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ADELAIDE :

OR,

THE COUNTERCHARM.

IN FIFE VOLUMES.

i
»Y

THE AUTHOR OF

" SANTO SEBASTIANO; OR, THE YOUNG PROTECTOR-'"

" ROMANCE OF THE PYRENEES : ■ AND

" THE FOREST OF MONTALBANO."

VOL. I.

LONDON:

PRINTED FOR G. AND S. ROBINSON,
AND CRADOCK AND JOY, PATERNOSTER ROM

18]3.

ADELAIDE

OK,

THE COUNTERCHARM.

CHAPTER I.

(xuided by the bright beams of the tran*»
quil orb of night in its full splendor, and
admiring its silver rays playing in liquid
brilliancy upon the serene bosom of the
ocean, an equestrian traveller was slowly
descending a steep declivity which wound
its devious meanderings close by the mag-
nificent portal of the gothic castle of De
Moreland, down to the pebbly shore of the
small but romantically situated village of
Seaview, upon the coast of Kent, when a
man, suddenly starting from amid the thick
underwood which grew in wild luxuriance
upon the embankment of the noble struc-
vol. i. B

ture's ancient foundation, eagerly exclaim-
ed—

" Plase your honour ! will I be bould to

■ax if it is tin o'clock ?"

Our equestrian was alarmed. The lone-
liness of situation, the manner of the ac-
cost, andr in defiance of the most liberal
sentiments that ever warmed the heart
of man, the strong Hibernian accent in
which the question was asked, led conjec-
ture to form the spontaneous belief of the
man being a footpad, who purposed en-
riching himself by a watch, should one be
produced to afford him the required in-
formation : but as self-possession was a gift
our equestrian was eminently endowed
with, he unhesitatingly replied,

"I will tell you the hour, my good
friend, when I take this pistol out of my
way of getting at my watch, which I al-
ways keep in my holster when I "

But ere he could conclude his sentence the
Hibernian impetuously rushed towards him ;
and, rashly unmindful of the implied peril,
vehemently grasped the hand which held
the announced weapon, and exclaimed—
" Och, flutes and nightingales ! sure but

it's Doctor Falkland's own sweet voice my-
self is after being regaled with ; whin it was
only the howl and growl of tigers and
hyenas myself expected to be treated with
on Kentish ground. "

" Assuredly my name is Falkland ; but
how came you acquainted with my voice,
or me?"

" Sure I will never be forgetting your
honour, and long life to you! for wasn't it
yourself, and good luck to you ! who cut
off my precious limb for me after the races
of Dunkirk ?"

" I am grieved it was not my lot to have
rendered you a service more calculated to
inspire the gratitude you evince, my good
friend; but I begin, I think, to recollect
you. — If I mistake not, you are the dra-
goon who, on our voyage upon that un-
fortunate expedition you alluded to, at the
peril of your oven life saved that of your
commanding officer, who had exercised
unnecessary, if not unwarrantable, cruelty
towards you."

" Ah ! now, your honour, don't be re-
membering the sins of my life ; and sure
my saving that worthy from the clapper-

B 2

4

claws of the deep was the biggest myself
ever committed : since, by that same blun-
der, I saved a scourge for many a gallant
lad ; and a successless commander, who
led, by his ill luck and headstrong errors,
many a brave fellow to disgrace and an
untimely grave.*'

Falkland sighed deeply ; and the Irish-
man continued.

ct And, sure, myself never prospered, no
more nor ould Aspenfield's expeditions,
since that luckless day; for didn't I lose
my neat, good looking leg? and didn't I
see my brave fellow subjects discomfited ?
and wasn't I discharged from a profession
I dearly loved ; and in my twintieth year,
crippled and heart-broken, placed as an oidd
veteran in the hospital of Kilmainham?
And, more grief to me ! am I not here
now, in a strange land, waiting to see my
darlingt captain, a cowld corpse, in his cof-
fin ) and that jewel of the world, Miss Ellen,
and her precious babe, land from yonder
black lugger, a heart-broken widow and
distitute orphan ? Och, och, that poor
Dennis O'Rourke should ever live to be
murdered with grief like this !'" — and tears

chased each other down his quivering'
cheeks.

* What captain's hody ? what widow and
orphan do you expect to land from yonder
dismally penanted vessel?" said Falkland,
in the kind voice of heart-resident sym-
pathy.

w Ah, your honour ! in that sorrowfully
arrayed brig lie the remains of the brave,
the good, the young, the noble Captain
Montagu Bbufrferfe."

" Forbid it, Heaven V Falkland ex-
claimed, in a voice of terrorized emotion.
" Why, surely, surely the last accounts of
that gallant hero's wounds were favourable,
most favourable V

" But they were humbugs," responded
Dennis, in the hoarse and hollow tone of
deeply seated sorrow: " for, alas! he is a
cowld corpse in yonder dismal brig ; sint
hither from Harwich by his hyena of a
grandfather ; to be smuggled on shore, in
the darkness of night ; to be laid secretly
in the grave, like some varlet or self cut-
throat, whose friends would be ashamed to
be lamenting him ; and not so much as one
shot, let alone a volley, allowed to tell a

hero is just buried. But if myself could
beg, or borrow, or, for that matter, steal
even as much as an ould blunderbuss, 'tis I
would report, for the trumpet of fame to
re-echo, that an hero's grave had only one
crippled soldier to fire out his grief upon it."
"Your genuine simplicity enforces my
belief of your statement; or else I could
not credit that Lord De Moreland, who
interred his gallant son, so few days since,
with all the funeral pomp of greatness, and
all the military honours due to a hero slain
in battle, should thus indignantly treat the
remains of his grandson, who, in filial he-
roism, met his death-stroke in rescuing his
mortally wounded father from the hands
of the enemy."

<c Och, faith, your honour ! you may cre-
dit what you plase of Lord De Moreland ;
and, provided 'tis bad enough, you won't be
a morsel unjust to him. The ould sinner of
the world ! to be carrying his resintmint be-
yond the grave, for the dear young captain
^ust marrying for love, and liking, an angel
who strayed to earth ; and so wouldn't be
forgiving him dead or alive ; and so sends
the poor beautiful corpse,, that can nevex

more offind him, the Turk of the world ! to
be landed incog, as the order is, in the
dead of night :■ — but the tide, more re-
spectful to the remains of a gallant soldier
than the grandfather that bore him, would
not be serving their turn as much as a mi-
nute later than tin o'clock; so hearing that
same from the porter at the castle, I tuck
my station here to wait for the sorrowful
landing, that one soldier might attend his
remains to their last home."

" More than one shall attend the gallant
and filially sacrificed Bouverie to his tomb 1"
exclaimed the ardent-hearted Falkland. —
" The garrison of Seaview shall, at my call,
receive the body from the brig ; and pri-
vate resentment shall be superseded by
public enthusiasm. It wants a full hour
until this sad landing can be effected : I
will, therefore, first point you out the way
to my house, where I wish you to await
my return ; I then will hasten to the bar-
racks; and when we return to this spot
again, rest assured, good Dennis, you will
find no cause to complain of the respect
paid to the honoured remains of the ines-
timable Bouverie."

8

The enthusiastic thanks, the joy-awak-
ened sobs, of this young ardent-hearted
Irishman were soon lost to the ears- of the
rapidly retreating Falkland ; who, on the
wings of a fleet gallop, flew to the barracks,
related the afflicting intelligence he had-
just learned, and awakened in the bosom
of not only the commanding officer but
every individual in this small garrison the
most powerful sorrow and indignation :—
and the spontaneous exertions with which
arrangements here were made to honour the
remains of a brother soldier, proved how
expeditiously enthusiasm performs its part;
and whilst sensibility's preparations were
here impetuously making, Falkland return-
ed to his house to enquire how Dennis
O'Rourke had fared in his kitchen : and
whilst he is thus kindly employed we will
have the gratification of performing a ne-
cessary duty in delineating some charac-
ters, and relating some circumstances es-
sential for our readers to become acquainted
with, ere they proceed much further in the
perusal of our present history*

9

CHAPTER II.

Augustus Henry Falkland was, at the
period he now encountered poor Dennis
O'Rourke, in his twenty-fourth year ; with
a form of noble stature, exquisite in symme-
try ; a face of transcendent, manly beauty;
possessing manners the most polished and
alluring, whilst the virtues of his heart
were all that could make a man estimable;
and for his intellectual stores, he was not
only a proficient in professional knowledge,
but deeply skilled in all the richest lore of
academic science ; nor was he deficient in
the lighter and refined accomplishments of
a polished gentleman.

Until he attained his seventeenth vear
he had been educated in the expectation
of inheriting estates of seven thousand per
annum, which had descended for several
generations of his ancient and honourable
family to his father as an undisputed
right when, from the shade of obscurity,
emerged an unexpected claimant of these
possessions, whose precedence of claim in-

b5

to

controvcrtibly substantiated, not only these-
forfeited estates, but the whole of the pro-
perty of this now impoverished branch, was
seized to wipe off the enormous debt, of
interest and principal most innocently
usurped.

Unfortunately, Falkland's father possess-
ed not sufficient fortitude to sustain his own
precipitation from ease and affluence, and
the total ruin of his adored and only child;
and in the course of a very few subsequent
months he sunk beneath the weight of his
afflictions.

The singularly unfortunate Augustus
was now left alone and destitute in the
world, to make his own way in it; for his
mother had been long deceased, and of re*
latives he had one only remaining likely
to afford him any countenance or friend-
ship, and that was a paternal great uncle,
a physician of high eminence in the me-
tropolis; and this sole hope was not slow
in realizing his dejected young nephew's
expectation, from his goodness, for he
promptly offered his hearty, unsolicited
services to him.

" You shall turn your highly-rated abi-

11

lities to the study of physic, my boy 1"
he said.— " My purse, my house, my in-
terest, my affection, shall henceforth be
as those of a fond father to you ; and, in
due time, I will resign my practice to you."
In conformity with his uncle's wish,
Augustus Falkland unhesitatingly entered
upon this new line of study \ and while
Doctor Falkland spared no expense to ac-
complish his nephew for this important
profession, Augustus, on his part, with-
held no toil of intense study and unwea-
ried application to do justice to the liber-
ality of his parental friend ; and at the early
age of twenty-two he had, with honour to
himself and satisfaction to his preceptors,
taken every requisite degree to constitute
a medical doctor,

But Doctor Falkland, the elder, consi-
dered himself as yet too young to resign
his practice in favour of his nephew ; and in
mortal weakness feeling too much alarmed
at the potent rival he had inadvertently
reared to suffer him to enter the same
walk with himself, speedily announced —
"he considered him yet too juvenile, in

m

aspect, to commence so grave a profes-
sion; and in which confidence depended so
much upon known experience, and a steady
appearance." It was, therefore, his advice
and wish, that for a few intervening years,:
until time removed the interdict to his local
practice, to amuse himself oy visiting dif-
ferent countries, and obtaining varied ex-
perience as an army surgeon,

This plan meeting with the ready ac-
quiescence of his amiable and grateful
nephew, Doctor Falkland immediately ob-
tained for him a surgeoncy in a regiment
of cavalry then stationed in Ireland.

Young Falkland, being so. eminently
formed to please* promptly made his way
to a high place in the favour and affection
of every individual who formed the regi-
ment he was appointed to, except the
colonel of it, General Aspenfield-— -the
man already mentioned, whose life Dennis
O'Rourke had saved ; — who being proud,
overbearing, and selfish, to a degree never
surpassed, looked down with sovereign con-
tempt upon all beneath him m rank ; and
took no man to his favour whose notice re-

13

fleeted no eclat upon his consequence, or
by courtesy to whom he did not expect to
promote his own interest.

In about six weeks after Falkland had
joined his regiment, and been scowled at
incessantly,, as an insignificant nobody, by
the haughty general, the transcendently
beautiful, amiable, and accomplished Ro-
salind Aspen field, the general's only child,
then just sixteen, was, upon an equestrian
excursion with a party of young compa-
nions, thrown -from her horse; when Falk-
land (who formed one of the party) promptly
discovered her left arm was fractured, with
the combined calamity of the dislocation
of her wrist.

The lofty general now found himself un-
der the humiliating necessity of accepting
the services of a nobodyy in professional
fame, to reduce this compound mischief,
since no surgeon of celebrated eminence
Avas to be found within many miles of the
general's present quarters ; and ungraci-
ously he submitted to the fair Rosalind's
entreaty to permit Mr. Falkland to per-
form the operation, which, with unfalter-
ing firmness, she sustained, declaring "her

14

gentle operator managed by magical influ-
ence, inflicting no pain." And by magic
he did, indeed, seem to proceed in the re-
covery of her arm; for it was well in a
space so short it might be deemed mira-
culous.

But when Falkland pronounced the frac-
ture of Miss Aspenfield was cured, she in-
formed her fond mother that her health
was materially injured by her confinement,
short as it had proved: her young phy-
sician was, therefore, still retained ; and
each day, each hour, she ingeniously in.
vented some new malady to pose his skill ;
and at length so contradictory in their
nature, that Falkland, in studying for the
possibility of their coalescing, developed
her ailment, and found it was of fatal
contagion, for that his lovely patient had
infected her doctor with her own malady,
without a hope of cure.

From the moment the fair Rosalind sus-
pected Falkland had discovered her malady
she developed his ; and with more love than
prudence, lured him on to a confession of
his passion, that she might avow her own,
and bid him hope all that was auspici-

T5

ous, from her influence over the minds
of her parents. But in her love cal-
culations poor Rosalind was direfully de-
ceived; since the moment she announced
to them her attachment, and implored their
approbation to her union with the fascinat-
ing Falkland, he was forbidden, with every
humiliating contumely, by General Aspen-
field, his house for ever; and Rosalind, on
pain of her parents' united heavy maledic-
tion, commanded never to see Falkland
more. And with these violent measures
the vindictive ire of the general and per-
secution of poor Falkland ceased not :
ever}' thing which General Aspenfield's
situation enabled him to perform against
the peace of the adoring lover of his daugh-
ter he executed with prompt malignity ;
and shortly after, on the unfortunate ex-
pedition to Dunkirk, he exerted all his
malice not only to destroy every comfort
for poor Falkland, but by, every method
which mining art. and cruelty could de-
vise, to throw odium on his professional
abilities.

But in this attempt to annihilate the
medical fame of Falkland his malice found

16

its disappointment ; whilst it forcibly aided
the hatred and contempt which every in-
dividual in his regiment long had secretly
borne to him ; and his persecution of Falk-
land seemed the signal for the long-stifled
flames of discontent and aversion to burst
forth : and soon the easily dismayed gene-
ral had the mortification to discover the
whole corps had in contemplation a me-
morial to the commander-in-chief, upon
the subject of General Aspenfield's many
professional cruelties, and want of military-
skill ; but more particularly upon his un-
merited persecutions and unfounded ac-
cusations against the abilities of Falkland.
From the idea of any military investiga-
tion of his conduct General Aspenfleld
shrunk appalled ; and hoping by effecting
one stroke of good generalship at last to
extricate himself from every apprehended
danger through the partizans of Falkland,
the moment he returned from the conti-
nent he compelled the heart-rived Rosalind
to write, from a copy he set her, a letter to
Falkland ; " entreating him, as he prized her
esteem, to use his influence to still the mur-
murs against her father, and to exchange

17

immediately into another regiment, to re-
move that animation his presence gave to
the parties forming against the general."

From her father's representation Miss
Aspenfield believed that Falkland's speedy
exchange was the only alternative to save
her father's fame, and perhaps his life. —
Her duty, therefore, urged her to make
these requests; but her unfalteringly at-
tached heart panted to make her intreaties
in language, although not that of sanc-
tioned love, yet of kindness, and tender^
everlasting friendship $ but the general was
inexorable ; and a letter, evincing feeling
only for her father, was sent to Falkland.

The wishes of Rosalind were laws which
the heart of Falkland instantly obeyed. By
his strenuous exertions the meditated me-
morial was relinquished, while one feeble
effort he made, to effect an exchange : that
effort failed, and in the next moment he
resigned his commission ; for in the despair
of love, forlorn of hope (which the cold-
ness of Rosalind's letter had inspired), he
paused not to consider of his own interest,
or of any consideration but that of com-

IS

plying with the heartless mandate of Miss
Aspen field.

With all the despair-fixed resolution of
a man who felt himself deeply injured,
Falkland combated every effort of hi*
friends in the regiment to remain one
hour with them after the acceptance of
his resignation — facilitated by the secret
manoeuvres of the invidious general — had
arrived. Every thing appertaining to a mi-
litary life was become obnoxious to him,,
since the image of the unfeeling,, incon-
stant Rosalind clouded every scene, and
made all with /which her image was com-
bined anguish to his heart.

On the wings of indignant feeling Falk-
land flew to his parental home, to repose
in the bosom of his succouring, second
father, the sorrows which oppressed him :
but Falkland here found a new and most
unexpected distress awaiting him, for he
now received that frigid reception from his
capricious uncle which consciousness of
cruelty towards his unsuspecting nephew
inspired ; which, teaching him recoiling
shudderings at the sight of an individual

19

he had deceived, and ungenerously treat-
ed, led him promptly to seize the plea of
his nephew's imprudence, in resigning a
commission he had procured for him, to
break with him for ever. For during the
military absence of Augustus, Doctor Falk>
land had, in the alarm awakened by a short:
but dangerous illness, been worked upon by
an artful woman, long his housekeeper and
cher ame, to repair his conscience by mak-
ing her his wife, and by acknowledging a
son she had presented him with, a dozen
years before, as his heir.

Augustus Falkland had many friends
now in London whom he had attached to
him during his medicinal studies, who now,
in the moment of his expulsion from his
uncle's favour, stepped forth to offer him
their services; some strenuously advising
him to commence practice in the metropo-
lis, a rival to his uncle; but this his ge-
nerosity of soul, and gratitude for former
paternal kindness, firmly negatived: whilst
others, who feared him as a competitor,
exerted their interest to obtain for him
an appointment on the medical staff; and
whilst these friends were anxiously seeking

20*

delusive promises and disappointments in
his cause, the united mental maladies, from
which poor Falkland suffered, affected his
bodily health ; and after a severe fit of ill-
ness, in which he was carefully attended
by those friends, it was deemed absolutely
necessary for him to seek the renovating
breezes of the sea*

An expensive watering-place the re-
duced state of his finances forbad his seek-
ing $ and having cherished in the memory
of his heart every sentence he had heard Ro-
salind utter, he perfectly remembered her
predilection for the retired village of Sea-
view ; and with the fond speed of delusive,
love, as if he hoped Miss Aspenfield would
meet him there, he proceeded to her favour-
ite spot ; and scarcely had he been settled
in his humble lodging there when he was
attacked with a relapse of the intermittent
fever which had nearly proved fatal to him
in town.

The only medical advice which Seaview
afforded was promptly called in, by his
landlady ; and from being incapable of
prescribing for himself, at the time, hap-
pily for him his new doctor was eminently

skilful and humane ; and surgeon and apo-
thecary Old worth brought our poor insu-
lated sufferer as safely through his illness
as the London physicians had done ; and
■when he pronounced his patient — and Falk-
land felt the sentence true — in a state of
perfect convalescence, he found himself so
attached to the interesting young invalid,
and Falkland so spell-bound in the bonds
of gratitude and esteem to the worthy,
ancient iEsculapius, that they became in-
separable companions ; when Falkland un-
hesitatingly disclosing his insulated situ-
ation to Old worth, the good old man
strenuously advised his practising in his
profession at Seaview ; as it was a bathing
.place, fast rising in public estimation, with
a thickly inhabited neighbourhood.

Falkland required but few arguments to
persuade him to what his heart impelled
v him to ; since Rosalind had mentioned to
him her having carved her name, with those
of some young companions, on the stump
of an ancient oak, on the summit of a high
cliff, when she had visited Seaview. This
oak Falkland had sought, and found ; and
the beloved characters, not yet effaced, he

had carved more deeply ; and had planted
round it the choicest evergreens which the
sea breezes were genial to, with a hope of
forming it into a sheltered seat, to study
in ; but that study soon becoming Rosa-
lind herself, exclusively, so endeared this
treasured retreat, that to quit Seaview
v would have proved death to him ; al-
though to live there he found most diffi-
cult ; since the air Mas too pure, and the
apothecary too skilful, to afford the phy-
sician much to do, save in the exercise of
his benevolence to the afflicted poor.

Five months had thus passed on at Sea-
view when Falkland was called one day
from his love-consecrated seat, to the aid
of the venerable Mr. Old worth, who had
been attacked by an apoplectic fit. —
Through the judicious treatment of Falk-
land he was promptly restored to percep-
tion ; but as Falkland entertained serious
fears of a fatal relapse, he dispatched ex-
presses for the best aid the county could
afford ; and Old worth himself entertaining
the same apprehensions that agitated the
mind of his young protege<J, paused not in
speaking the wishes of his heart.

23

•"*' Falkland, my kind, my anxious, my
•skilful friend, I want no aid but yours," he
said ; " and yet even yours, I find, cannot
prevail against the fleetly coming shafts of
xieath : but, ere I go, I fain would prevail
on you to drop the M. D. until fortune, in
a more auspicious 'moment, permits your
resuming it with better success ; and in
the intervening time pursue my practice,
which, a few days since, I bequeathed by
will to you, should you deem it worthy of
acceptance, along with these premises,-
encumbered only with an asylum for my
niece Alice and my cook Martha in this
mansion, as long as they can be useful to
you, or that you mutually agree. Martha
will serve you honestly, I doubt not; and
Alice will carefully housekeep for you, as
she has done for me these thirty-four years;
too far advanced in life for the trump of
scandal to sound her retreat from beneath
the roof which a man, so many years her
junior, inhabits.

" Come, Falkland, come, say not a ne-
gative to my proposition, and make me
happy in my last moments ; since for you
I know not of a more advantageous esta*

24

Wishment at 'present; and for myself — I
love my patients as a tender parent does
bis sick children; and to leave them to the
care of one who will evince more skill in
their management than I could will drop
balm on my dying agonies."

Such an appeal, in such a moment, could
find no negative in the grateful bosom of
Falkland, who, the preceding day, had seen
it announced in a diurnal paper, (t that the
Hon. Gustavus Saville, eldest son to Vis-
count Calicarn, was shortly to lead to the
Hymeneal altar the lovely and accom-
plished daughter of General Aspenfield :"
and pride and ambition, which, for Rosa-
lind, would have reigned invincible, were
lulled to dormant passions by disappointed
love.

Contrary to the expectations of Old-
worth — who viewed approaching death, as
he had long done in perspective, as a wel-
come translation to a better world — a phy-
sician of high eminence arrived from Ash-
ford, ere his last sand was run ; who
promptly declared that Doctor Falkland
had done all for his friend which human
skill could effect; but his fears equalled

25

Falkland's, of a fatal relapse. These fears
were realized at midnight; and ere the
morning dawned Old worth was no more.

When the will of Oldworth was inspect-
ed, it was found that Dr. Woodehouse,
rector of the parish, was left executor,
with a handsome legacy for this trouble.
To Alice Oldworth was bequeathed four
thousand pounds; to Martha Drayner a
comfortable annuity ; to his few surviving
relatives, all his domestics, and many of
his friends, legacies; whilst to Falkland
he bequeathed his practice, mansion, es-
tate surrounding it, furniture, plate, liv-
ing, stock, &c. &c.

Falkland, in compliance with the wishes
of his sincerely lamented friend, commenced
his career as a medical factotum in all its
branches, save those of accoucheur and den-
tist, to the neighbourhood of Seaview, im-
mediately upon the decease of Mr. Old-
worth, and took possession of his new
abode in about a month after the inter-
ment of the late most worthy owner : and
so far from feeling any repugnance to the
inmates bequeathed to him in Mrs. Alice
and Martha Drayner, he retained every

vol. i. c

26

inmate Oldworth had left upon the pre-
mises, even down to blind horses and su-
perannuated dogs and cats; for as it had
been Oidworth's maxim to turn nothing
out of his service, in the hour of age and
infirmity, which had given him the labours
of better days, so it was Falkland's too;
who soon was gratified by the manifest
gratitude and growing attachment of all.

Nor was the reception he met with as
the professional successor of Oldworth less
flattering to his feelings; since not only
"was his skill so promptly appreciated that
lie was sought for far and near as a medical
attendant, but the high cultivation of his
mind, and striking polish of his manners,
obtained admission for him, as a friend
and intimate, in families of the very first
consequence in the neighbourhood ; where,
when the unsubdued melancholy of his love-
lorn mind allowed him to mingle in society,
he was received a welcome, an admired
guest; and in seven months, which had
now intervened since the decease of Mr,
Oldworth to his meeting with Dennis
O'Rourke near De Moreland castle, Falk-
land had experienced no annoyance from

27

his inmates; except through regret from
perceiving a fast augmenting juvenility in
Mrs. Alice, now metamorphosed from a
cap-adorned, profusely-clothed, respecta-
ble dame, into a flaxen-pated model of fa-
shionable frugality in quantity of attire,
styling herself Miss Alicia Oldworth; all
which much grieved him, since it changed
the niece of his benefactor from an object
of esteem to one of ridicule, and trans-
formed her into a much less comfortable
tite a tite companion than when, a self-
convicted old woman, he regarded her as
a maiden aunt.

c 2

28

CHAPTER III.

Raymond, the already mentioned Earl of
De Moreland, was, at this period of fa-
tality to the heroes of his family, in his se-
venty-ninth year,and nearly superannuated.
Early in life his lordship had married most
auspiciously, but ere one year of his wed-
ded happiness had been completed, the
eventful moment that presented him with
a son and heir deprived him of his amiable
and lovely wife.

This direful calamity was sensibly felt by
his lordship ; but so desolating to his com-
fort he found the innovating sensations of
grief, that he quickly strove to banish Its
annoyance by plunging madly into every
scene of dissipation's delusive Lethe ; and
ere his lovely boy, Lord Roscoville, had
completed his second year, he found, in
some haunt of vice, a Mrs. Jones, whom
he promptly formed a strong attachment
to, and with her infant niece, Malinda, took
under his protection, and placed beneath

29

his own roof, where his own boy was rear-
ing.

As time went on, and the infant nursery
companions advanced to maturity, the art-
ful Mrs. Jones, manoeuvring to effect an
union between the young heir and the
pretty Malinda, led to an event she had
not foreseen — the ruin of her niece, and
the birth of a female child.

Neither the rage or vehement demands
for reparation of Mrs. Jones, nor the tears
and entreaties of the artfully gentle Ma-
linda, could force or win Lord De More-
land or his son to their ambitious projects.
The father was not so depraved to permit
such an union for his son, who, on his part,
possessed too much veneration for purity,
and too thorough a conviction of Mai in-
da's levity of principle, not firmly to recoil
from the idea of degrading the title of
Roscoville by giving it to such a woman.

The disappointed hopes and projects of
Mrs. Jones awakened such enmity in her
bosom towards Lord Roscoville, that, for
the preservation of a tranquil life, by re-
moving a being so obnoxious to her, Lord
De Moreland was at length induced to ac-

30

cede to his son's long ineffectually offered
importunities for permission to become a
soldier.

A commission was, therefore, purchased
for Lord Roscoville, who promptly obtained
for himself unfading laurels in the honour-
able profession he had entered, when soon
he found that love and war were not in-
compatible; for when first presented at
court, after covering his shield with mili-
tary glory, he beheld the presentation of
Lady Adelaide Riversdale^ the only sur-
viving child of the not long deceased Duke
of Ullswater, and was spontaneously ena-
moured. The passion speedily became re-
ciprocal; but Mrs. Jones permitted not
Lord De Moreland to smile propitiously
upon the union. The young lady's guar-
dian proved inexorable, too, having views
for Lady Adelaide to his own advantage ; so
that the consequence of such inauspicious
negatives was, the youthful lovers eloped
to Scotland and were united ; but on their
return from Gretna Green, and ere the
marriage in England was solemnized, Lord
Roscoville prevailed upon his relenting fa-
ther to make the necessary marriage settle-

31

ments upon his bride and expected younger
children ; but, still influenced by the vin-
dictive Jones, these settlements bore no
proportion to the wealth on either side.

However, fate ordained that to Lady
Roscoville the arrangement of her jointure
should prove of no importance, since, after
ten years of the most perfect connubial hap-
piness, in the first and third years of which
she had presented her lord with a lovely
boy, she was snatched, by a rapid and fatal
illness, from her heart- rived husband, to
receive those everlasting rewards her me-
rits had insured her.

Shortly after the deeply and unceasingly
lamented death of his tenderly adored wife,
Lord lloscoville resumed that career of mi-
litary glory his wedded happiness had sus-
pended, and accompanied his regiment out
to the East Indies ; vainly hoping that
change of clime might distil for him some
kindly balm to assuage the deeply seated
pangs his wounded heart now writhed
with; leaving his two fondly loved boys,
Edwin and Montagu, under the protec-
tion of their grandfather.

When suspended scholastic duties per-

32

mitted these tenderly attached brothers to
visit their grandfather, they constantly met
their illegitimate sister Isabella, the daugh-
ter of Malinda, a most exquisitely beauti-
ful child, three years older than Edwin,
whom Lord Roscoville had left positive
orders for being kept constantly at a very
moral school, where his amiable wife had
early placed her.

But Malinda, after seriously disobliging
her aunt by repeated acts of misconduct,
at length drew in an infatuated young offi-
cer to marry her, whom she went abroad
with ; when Mrs. Jones's fondness all cen-
tring in the young Isabella, she disobeyed
Lord Roscoville's mandate, and kept the
child constantly at home to indulge her
own partiality, and rear her as a tool for
her own sinister purposes, which were those
of weakening the attachment of Lord De
Moreland to his son and grandsons, and
setting up herself as an idol in his favour,
through whose influence his lordship's fu-
ture actions were to be guided, his favour
obtained, his coffers emptied.

Most admirably did this young pupil
of an experienced Machiavel perform her

S3

part; she distanced every competitor in
the favour of her grandfather, and esta-
blished her ground as the prime ruler of his
actions ere she attained her sixteenth year,
at which period Mrs. Jones died ; when the
doors of Lord De Moreland were once more
opened for the admission of respectable
female society, and Miss Bouverie, as his
lordship chose to style her, was introduced
to the world : but not until she had com-
pleted her nineteenth year did she accom-
plish the grand purpose of her long mining
policy, when she obtained thirty thousand
pounds from her grandfather, and married
the Earl of Levburn.

Scarcely had the nuptials of Lady Ley-
burn been celebrated when Lord Rosco-
ville returned from India, and very shortly
after that event Edwin Bouverie set out
upon the continental tour, and Montagu,
whose predilection, like his father's, was
for the army, obtained a commission in
Lord RoscovihVs own regiment*

Three years more elapsed, in which
Lady Leybum gave birth to a daughter
and a son. Edwin continued abroad, and
Montagu obtained a company and was

c 5

34

appointed aid-de-camp to his father, who
was shortly after sent over to Ireland as
commander-in-chief there; where, in about
a year after his arrival, the juvenile captain
fell most romantically in love with a Miss
Bellenden, a fascinatingly beautiful girl,
who had just completed her fifteenth year.
St. Leger Bellenden, the father of this
young enslaver of Captain Bouverie's, was
the elder of the two sons, and onlv chil-
clren, of a lately deceased prelate, highly
celebrated for piety and learning. In early
life he had been rescued from a watery
grave by a schoolfellow named Murrough
Mac Dermot, who, unfortunately, in after
years became suspected of political princi-
ples which no true patriot could sanction ;
yet round the heart of St. Leger Bellenden
gratitude had so firmly bound its spells,
that nothing could destroy his attachment
to his preserver, and as time rolled on, and
the loyalty of Mac Dermot was openly ar-
raigned, the doors of Bellenden were still
unclosed to the being who had saved his
life ; and in the excess of his gratitude
to this dangerous man he toiled indefa-
tigably, both in a voluminous correspond-

35

ence and by repeated interviews, to use all
the influence which hope and reality led
him to believe he possessed over the mind
of Mac Dermot, to convert him from poli-
tics so injurious to his country ; and while
he laboured, without effect, for the safety
of the constitution, the tarnished fame of
his friend contaminated his own, and the
eye of suspicion rested on him as a prose-
lyte to Mac Dermot's rebellious principles.

Suspicion thus awakened, calumny ex-
erted her influence, and at length, after
being received with coldness at repeated
levees, the viceroy, with marked disdain,
turned his back upon Belienden, who,
promptly enquiring the cause of such an
insult, learned the painful solution to so
unmerited a reception.

St. Leger Belienden was proud, spirited,
and inheriting the characteristic of his
countrymen to a remarkable excess — im-
petuosity,— he, in the impulse of keenly
wounded feelings., smarting from the barb-
ed arrow of suspicion of faith as sound
as loyalty could boast, promptly and un-
advisedly pursued a plan which led him
ultimately to destruction.

36

Although Bishop Bellenden had enjoyed
episcopal dignity a sufficient length of time
to have left affluence to his sons, yet from
inattention to his temporal interest he had
little more than his paternal inheritance,
which was not great, to bequeath them;
and St. Leger having, at a very early pe-
riod of his life, formed a romantically en-
thusiastic attachment to a lovely young
woman of high descent, but moderate for-
tune, thought of nothing but obtaining his
fair enslaver to wife, and, having obtained
her, of nothing but domestic felicity and
her; so that, adopting no profession to in-
crease his stores, he possessed but little,
and therefore found no impeding difficul-
ties in collecting his portable treasures;
and just at the fondly hailed moment the
enamoured Bouverie had effected the ar-
dently panted for exchange of the lovely
Ellen Bellenden's heart for his own, the
impetuous Bellenden, with his unresisting
but disconsolate wife and child, quitted
his country, where the individual who in-
sulted him being the representative of
Majesty, was shielded by that sacred per-
sonation from any demand of honour's

37

denominated satisfaction ; and, led by the
impulsion of a wounded spirit, he flew, on
indignation's highly soaring wings,to Paris.

This injudicious expatriation, with the
as impolitic retreat he rashly fled to, but
confirmed the calumny against his prin-
ciples, and induced Lord Roscoville, with-
out a moment's hesitation, to command his
lovelorn son to exterminate his passion for
the daughter of the traitor Bellenden from
his heart ; but the image of the amiable,
as lovely, Ellen was too indelibly engraven
there for that mandate to find obedience.

Scarcely had Bellenden established him-
self in his dwelling at Paris, ere the germs
of political discontent and sedition began
to betray the deep root they sprung from;
when the incorrigibly rash Bellenden,
eager to evince to many of his country-
men then in the French metropolis how
erroneous had been the opinion formed
of his loyalty, eagerly and incautiously
espoused the aristocratic cause ; and, in
consequence, he was amongst the very first
of the victims who were sacrificed in the
sanguinary rage of democratic madness
on the fourteenth of Jul v, 1789.

38

With difficulty, and by chance ap-
proaching to miraculous, the almost dis-
tracted widow and orphan eluded the sa-
vage barbarity of the wild poissardes, and
after encountering fatigue and peril of no
common form, and romantic adventures
almost too extraordinary for faith to cre-
dit, they effected their escape to Dieppe,,
and from thence, with many other retreat-
ing fugitives, obtained safe convoy to
Brighthelmstone; where, on the moment
of their landing, they found upon the
beach an ardent friend ready to assist
them in Captain Bouverie, who had been
drawn to the shore* with many others, to
see the disembarkation of the packet fu-
gitives, to enquire French news, and offer
his services to those who might require
them : little conceiving; that the verv be-
ing for wThose safety his mind was torn
with anguished apprehension should prove
the first to require his care.

Pitied by his father for the visible in-
roads which the miseries of his hopeless
and incurable passion had made upon bis
aspect, his lordship granted Captain Bou-
verie leave of absence to try the efficacy

39

of change of scene, and strongly advised
him to make a tour of all the gay water-
iog places on the coast of England; but
one only had charms for Bouverie, and
that was Brighton, from whence he hoped
to gain early intelligence from Paris, and
from which place he meditated, could he
learn no tidings of his adored Ellen, to
embark, in some promising disguise, to the
coast of France, in the forlorn hope of
better success attending his own inquiries

there.

Ellen was now restored to the adoring
Bouverie an object of tender pity as well
as of ardent love: her pallid lips, her
blanched cheeks, her languid eyes, and
attenuated form, proclaimed they were
no common griefs her bosom sorrowed for.
Her affectionate and beloved father had
been massacred in her arms, which she
had thrown around him as filial heroism's
consecrated shield ; but she was deceived
in their talismanic influence; the assassin's
steel pierced beneath them ; she had felt
her father's last convulsive shiver of re-
cedino* life ; and she had beheld her faint-

40

ing mother's eyes, and every faculty un-
close from a death resembling swoon, to
hear her husband's expiring groan, and
with its dire shock to give the fatal wound
to her heart which soon spread its visible
influence to her delicate frame; giving, by
daily increasing symptoms, the sad cer-
tainty to her child that her last sand was
running down.

To Bouverie this certainty was as visi-
ble as to the apprehensive eye of tenderly
watchful, fond affection; and through the
ardent interrogations of his anxiety he
drew from Ellen, that with her rapidly de-
clining mother she should lose the only
being. whose protection she had a claim
to; since, prior to the massacre of her
father, news had reached them at Paris of
her uncle William Bellenden, after risking
his life in four successive duels in vindi-
cation of his tenderly beloved brother's
fame, in the dire apprehension of having
mortally wounded the last of his antagot
nists had fled from Ireland, taking with
him his only child by a marriage which
death had immaturely dissolved; and, with

41

his boy of twelve years old, had not since
been heard of, although the supposed mor-
tally wounded man had rapidly recovered.

The heart of Bouverie had promptly
selected a guardian for her, which made
him fastidious to every other she could
name ; — and that was a husband — that
husband himself.

The transcendently handsome, elegant,
accomplished, and amiable Bouverie, al-
ready in possession of the tenderest affec-
tions of Ellen, found it no very difficult
achievement to persuade her into a com-
pliance with his wishes, particularly as
they so perfectly coalesced with her dy-
ing mother's, whom he found a resistless
auxiliary.

The moment this ardent lover believed
Mrs. and Miss Bellenden recovered from
the infinite fatigue they had sustained in
the toils and perils of their escape from
Paris, he attended them to London, where,
as soon as possibility would permit, as he
had just completed his twenty-first year,
and Miss Bellenden's guardian present,
with her sanction he was united to the
amiable, as lovely3 Ellen, in the parish

42

church of St. James's, in the latter end
of the September succeeding her father's
direful massacre; the request of her dy-
ing mother, to cheer her last moments, by-
consigning her to safe and tender protec-
tion, impelling her to a precipitance so
little consistent with her genuine grief
for her father, or with the veneration she
held his memory in.

Although the circumstances attending
the massacre of Bellenden must, in Bou-
verie's opinion, have exonerated his fame
from obloquy in the minds of even the
most bigoted skeptics, and that the plea
of her being the offspring of a traitor
could no longer sway his father against
Miss Bellenden for a daughter, yet, appre-
hensive of the influence of Lady Ley-
burn over his grandfather to awaken some
new objection to this alliance, he forbore
to apprize Lord Roscoville of it, flatteriug
himself with a more ready forgiveness from
his affectionate father if he married with-
out his sanction, than if, after a success-
less application for it, he united himself to
Ellen in direct opposition to some absolute
command.

43

But that very affection upon which
Bouverie's hope founded its certain hasis
for pardon proved its most invincible ad-
versary; since, stung to the keenest feel-
ing of that affection's sensibility, by this
most adored of his two idolized sons — him
whom for his touching resemblance to his
still poignantly lamented mother, he had
in shrined in the tenderest spot of his pa-
ternal love — could take so important a
step without consulting him, inflicted a
wound which offended affection deepened,
whilst it raised the shield of jealous par-
tiality, indignant at unmerited slight, as
an invincible barrier against forgiveness.
The penitential and imploring letters of
his most fondly loved child were all re-
turned unopened; and a cold, official man-
date to return to his duty as an aid-de-
camp to Lieutenant-General Lord Rosco-
ville was the only notice he was honoured
with by his heart-rived father ; and when,
in compliance with this mandate, he with
his adored bride and respected mother-in-
law returned to Ireland, and as his aid -de-
camp he was admitted into his father's
presence, no parental smile cheered his re*

44

turn, or bid him welcome: no; all was
sullen gloom, stern, unforgiving, repelling
silence; and poor Bouverie received and
obeyed orders as an alien to his parent's
heart 5 and neither iuvited to or forbidden
his lordship's table, he took each day his
meals with Ellen, whose anxiety for her
mother's declining health hourly aug-
mented ; and in two months after her re-
turn to her native country, the heart-
rived widow of the massacred Bellenden,
breathed her last sigh upon the bosom of
her sorrowing child, who found a tender
Sympathizer in her adoring husband, whose
every affection now seemed centred in
Ellen ; since his father's heart repelled
him; his grandfather denounced nothing
but implacable resentment against him ;
his sister treated him with scorn; and his
brother was still abroad, complained of by
all his relatives at home as well as by
Montagu as an inattentive correspond-
ent.

45

CHAPTER IV.

Ik the August subsequent to their union.
Ellen presented her beloved Montagu
with a lovely daughter ; and the moment
Ellen was equal to accomplishing such a
task, after this happy event, she wrote to
Lord Roscoville, imploring his forgiveness
for his son — his blessing for his grand-
child.

This was the first act of Ellen's since
she had become a wife that she had per-
formed without the sanction and know-
ledge of her husband ; and too soon she
keenly repented this clandenstine measure,
when she found it obtained no reply from
his lordship ; and at length, about five
weeks after her accouchement, in despair
at the disappointment of her fond hopes,
she sat with her lovely babe sleeping in hec
tenderly encircling arms, deeply meditating
upon the propriety of still concealing or
not, from her beloved Montagu, what
she had so successlessly attempted, when

46

Lord Roscoville was most unexpectedly an-
nounced.

The affecting letter of Ellen bad found
its instant way to the heart of Lord Ros-
coville for her child, and for herself too,
for whom she had not pleaded, but for her
husband she had failed to subdue ; for
still the pangs of wounded affection ran-
kled too deeply even for her magic pen
to present a palliation ; and his lordship
had only waited to reply until with pro-
priety, in consideration of her confine*
ment, he could make it in person.

Lord Roscoville had known and ex-
tremely admired Miss Bellenden when he
had unhesitatingly approved of her for the
wife of his favourite son, therefore no
introduction was necessary between his
lordship and Ellen ; who conducted herself
with so much sweetness and fascination
through this trying interview, in which
she found her pleadings for her husband
still ineffectual, that she beguiled his
lordship of sorrow's tears, because the stern
indignant feeling of wounded paternal
pride and love would not permit him to
yield to her heart-piercing solicitations,

47

that happiness she coveted for her hus-
band.

<c Dear Ellen, desist, I conjure you !" at
length exclaimed his lordship, in a falter-
ing voice — " you comprehend not my feel-
ings ; hut so it is, that the hand of doat-
ing affection has raised up this invincible
barrier between my darling child and
me; — but that affection was deceived; its
adoring partiality requited by ingrati-
tude, and the dire sting it gave was deep
— was mortal:" and in an agony of tears
his lordship retreated to the door, but
quickly restraining these drops of paren-
tal anguish, he returned to the weeping
Ellen, and proceeded —

" You have told me, most interesting
Ellen, your babe is still without baptism,
because you wished her not to receive
that important rite until she had obtained
the blessing of her grandfather. That
she has now obtained ; and further, dear
Ellen, I will be her sponsor, the guarantee
for her continuance in that path of Christ-
ianity which you will rear her in. But by
proxy must I take this sacred charge upon
me; for in such a moment I could not

48

meet my boy, and remain unchristian.
Name her after my adored, departed wife.
— Adelaide is a sweet name, Ellen, at least
to me it has always sounded so ; and for
the sake of my lost Adelaide I will still
more fondly love your pretty innocent.—
Name her thus, to oblige me, Ellen, and
the fortune of my second Adelaide shall
be my care."

Ellen promised ; and soon after his
lordship departed : and when Montagu
returned he found his adored wife agitated
. by emotion, which vainly sought conceal-
ment.

" Ellen, my life !" he exclaimed, in an
agony of sympathetic alarm, " what can
have thus disturbed you ?"

€i Oh! Montagu, forgive me!" she
piteously cried; " I have accepted a
blessing for your child; — pardon for my-
self, in which you, my adored husband,
are not included. Your father, my Mon-
tagu, has been here j but, alas ! alas ! re-
mains unkind to you."

Bouverie threw his arms around Ellen,
and as he tenderly pressed her grief-
blanched cheek to his, and encircled his

4.9

"babe, with her lovely mother, in his em-
brace, he said :

*c In blessing my Ellen and my child
does not my father bless me? — Then
grieve not, my love, that I am yet ex-
cluded from his favour; for as his tender-
ness augments for my wife and babe, can
jou think his heart will not sympathetically
soften towards his son ?"

Although Bouverie rejoiced that his wife
and chikl were taken to the affection of
his father, yet still, with the bitter pang
of wounded affection, he secretly sorrowed
that his parent's eye no longer beamed
with tenderness on him.

The baptismal day of the child of Bou-
verie and Ellen arrived ; and the proxy
of Lord Roscoville presented, from her
grandfather, to the infant Adelaide a
thousand pounds to buy her coral; and
at each visit of his lordship to this young
idol of his rapidly increasing adoration
some costly gift was presented to Ellen for
her lovely child — to Ellen, who yet was
heart-rived, because his resentment re-
mained invincible to Montagu.

At length Lord Roscoville was recalled

▼OL. I. t>

50

■from his command in Ireland to lead ont;
of our enterprizes against the French arms
in Flanders; his lordship's own regiment
formed part of his brigade; Bouverie yet
held a troop in it ; and being also his fa-
ther's aid-de-camp, his going upon this ex-
pedition was inevitable; and the heart-
rived Ellen was kindly and paternally in-
vited by Lord Roscoville to take up her
residence, during the absence of her hus-
band, at his lordship's house in London,
under the protection of Lady Leyburn,
now become a widow, and who, with her
five children, were for a temporary abode
in his house in Bruton-street.

Too soon the hour of calamitous se-
paration arrived; and poor Ellen, with
her lovely Adelaide, then between three
and four years old, were left in the espe-
cial care of Lady Leyburn by* Lord Ros-
coville, with a solemn command to treat
them with the most attentive care and
tenderness.

At length those engagements commenc-
ing on the 23d of April, 1794, in the vi-
cinity of Cambray, fatal to the house of
Bouverie, took place between the allies

51

and French ; and on the 25th Lord Ros-
coville, mortally wounded, was taken pri-
soner by the enemy, when his brave and
affectionate son, followed by a daring
band of his own troop, who feared not
death while Bouverie was their leader to
it, charged with the impetuosity of resist-
less intrepidity those who were bearing
oif their bleeding prize ; and, covered with
wounds, the filially heroic Bouverie re-
scued his general and father from the re-
treating foe.

Lord Roscoville had fainted from loss
of blood, and agitation of the tenderest
feelings, in the arms of his son, the mo-
ment after his rescue; and in that state he
was borne by the valiant dragoons who
had aided in his deliverance to the hands
of the surgeons, who had no hope to
cheer his heart-rived son with. His lord-
ship's wounds, alas ! were mortal, and his
speedy dissolution inevitable; the extrac-
tion of balls, therefore, was deemed useless
torture ; and all that now remained was to
make his last moments as easy as the hor-
rors and inconvenience of their situation
would admit of.

d2

5*

But it would be a vain attempt did we
aim at the delineation of those moments
which succeeded the recovery of Lord
Roscoville from his swoon, in which he
locked his son in his trembling arms, and
poured out all the paternal feelings, the
gratitude, the remorse, that agitated his
bosom; but soon, from internal admoni-
tions, becoming sensible of the awful
approach of the great subduer of all, he
hastened to give more substantial proof
than heart-inspired, enthusiastically invok-
ed blessings, his forgiveness of his son ;
by dictating to his secretary a codicil to a
will he had made ere he left England, be-
queathing to the young Adelaid all the
personal property he had accumulated in
India, and from other professional enrich-
ing resources ; personal wealth which he
now wished his Montague and Ellen to be
equal sharers in. But ere the last line of
this codicil was completed death had laid
its inaction on his limbs, and his clay-cold
hand could never more trace his signature;
and in direful mental anguish he desired
all present to send their testimony of what
bad been his intention to his father,- with

53

the unfinished codicil ; and with his<iying
request to his son Edwin and to Lord De
Morelaud to cherish Montagu, his wife,
and child, in their tenderest affection, for
his sake.

In a few moments succeeding this last
exertion the scene of mortal life closed
for ever on Lord Roscoville, who expired
on the bosom of his heart- rived son.

As this attack of the republican troops,
made upon the Duke of York on the 2 3th
of April, 1794, extended along the whole
frontier from Treves to the sea, aud that
Lord Roscoville met his fate not too far
distant from the coast to make it an im-
practicable measure, the wishes of his
heroic son were kindly attended to; and
the corse of his father, soldered up, and
himself in a litter, were conveyed to Eng-
land as expeditiously as possibility would
admit of: but the despatches with the ac-
count of those short-lived successes near
Cambray, at that period, anticipated by
several days the arrival of the vessel which
conveyed the wounded Bouverie and his
dead sire to their native land; so that
when the body of Lord Roscoville was

54

landed at Harwich, all the pomp of funeral
parade which ostentation could bestow
awaited his insensate remains, by order of
his disconsolate father.

At Harwich too awaited the heart-rived
Ellen with her child the disembarking her
dead father, and wounded husband. The
fatal tissue of calamity had, without one
particle of tender sympathy, been revealed
by Lady Ley burn to the appalled, suscep-
tible Ellen j who was permitted at mid-
night, with no other attendant than the
nurse-maid of her Adelaide, a girl of nine-
teen, to set out for Harwich to await the
arrival of what the despatches termed him,
her u dangerously wounded" husband.

No mark of attention or affection await-
ed the mentally and bodily suffering Bou-
verie from his own family but what poor
Ellen, with ineffable tenderness, bestowed;
but from his brother soldiers, from pitying
sailors, and ail of human kind which
Harwich was inhabited by, who knew
how to appreciate worth and valour, he
met with every kindness which could
gratify a feeling heart: but his grand-
father and his sister, who arrived to par

55

their last sad tribute of grief to the re-
mains of Lord Roscoville, visited not his
couch of approaching death, although the
principal surgeon who attended him, at
Bouverie's desire, waited on Lord De
Moreland, to announce his grandson's
hopeless state, and to request an interview
ere he died.

But Lord De Moreland, influenced
by the selfish, unfeeling, Lady Ley burn,
refused this last request, with barbarity
refused it \ adding, u That Captain Bou-
verie, and the daughter of the attainted
friend of Murrough M' Den not, had no-
thing to expect from him but contempt,
neglect, and forgetfuluess of all affinity."

In about an hour after the body of
Lord Roscoville set out for its last place
of rest, Lord De Moreland and Lady Ley-
burn left Harwich, without softening into
one tender thought for the dying Bou-
verie, who, though Lady Leyburn, to shield
her grandfather's inflexibili tyr from cen-
sure, had it inserted in the public prints
was out of danger, only lingered on for
ten days after the commencement of his
father's funeral procession to the family

56

place of interment in Kent; and where it
was poor Bouverie's wish that he might
receive the rite of interment too.

Immediately after the decease of the
lamented Bouverie this request was trans-
mitted to Lord De Moreland, and from
his lordship's secretary an answer came
ungraciously acceding to the sad request,
and dictating to the heart-rived widow the
mode of proceeding in her late husband's
interment; ordering the body to be con-
veyed by water in a fishing-smack from
Harwich to the castle of De Moreland.

This order for a hired fishing-boat to
convey the remains of the gallant, filially,
sacrificed Bouverie was received with*
universal indignation" at Harwich, and
the port-admiral instantly ordered a sloop
of war for that melancholy service. Af-
fection and respect placed the insignia of
mourning on its masts, and its drapery
within the cabin. The corse was attend-
ed with every funeral honour to the water-
side by the military force at Harwich,
and there received with equal sacred at-
tention by the naval admirers and mourn-
ers of a brother hero, and conveyed with

57

affecting solemnity to the black penanted
sloop, to which the heart-sorrowing widow
and terrorized orphan had been privately
borne ere the commencement of the
mournful procession, for no entreaties
could prevail on Ellen to relinquish her
determination of attending the remains of
her Montagu ; and when the sorrowing
friends of Bouverie found she had arrang-
ed for herself and little suite to follow in
a light cutter the sloop that contained the
body of her husbaud, all further remon-
strances were discontinued, and every ac-
commodation made in the sloop for her,
her child, and servants; and with an au-
spicious wind they soon reached the shore
of Seaview, when, on intimation being con-
veyed to the steward of De Moreland
castle of the arrival of the body, he gave
the indignant captain of the sloop inform-
ation, " That by order of Lord De More-
land the corse must be landed in the
night, to avoid attraction, since it was to
be interred with all possible privacy."

But that privacy the attachment of
O'Rourke destroyed, who was son to a
tenant of the Bellenden family, and who,

» a

58

from the first rumour of Miss Ellen's in-
tended marriage with Captain Bouverie
reaching his ear, determined, the moment
he was tall enough to be accepted, to en-
list in the regiment with this same Captain
Bouverie, who could be nothing less than
superhuman, Dennis believed, or Miss
Ellen would not love him. Accordingly,
having arrived at the heighth of his am-
bition, which allowed him to indulge
his long-cherished propensity, he enlisted
about the period of the young Adelaide's
birth; and introducing himself to Bou-
verie at parade as an humble friend of
" sweet Miss Ellen's, and her honoured,
scandalized father," Bouverie had him
immediately removed to his own troop;
and, by the zeal of his interest, fully in-
tended rapid promotion for him, had* not
the impetuosity of Dennis, eager to enter
the field of honour ere Bouverie could ac-
complish his kind purpose, led him to,
volunteer to fill up draughts to complete
regiments ordered for the continent, where
his military career was soon arrested ; for
at Dunkirk he lost his leg, and obtained,
through his calami ty, an asylum in the

59

, .t , of Kilmainham, where the kmd-
hospital ot luma ghthimout;

ness of Bouver.e ™*f lf^S. Irela«d,
and, during then- ^ / ^Junate eX-
after his returu from his unto.
pedition, their benevolence presente

wUh man^C^ Dennis on their departure

The grief ot Dennis
<• TvMind was such as sprun0
from lielana at:tn«te • but when

*v» i,PiTt of genuine gratitude , uu
the heait or g was ne t0

he heard that his dea. ca

the terrible continent which ad p

so fatal to himself, be F?^^ t0

Q„j „ffer his condoling sympani)
to go and otter i .^ of a

" darlinSt^l See"' good-natured, ami
child, and the s ^' J Norah0'Bearn; '
perfect beauty of a nurse, « ^

and rapidly obtaining gjj^ M„;
^^.^STSmffto comfort
BrSb he Tmbarhed for the port of
111 10 ,caSh' . after a tedious voyage
London; and atter RoscovihVs

arrived, at length, a^Lord Kos
house in Bruton-street, * t m t

r +V.P disconsolate poitti

learn from the ^ hat noble

ralamitv which nad i^"111
? vfn the death of his lamented lore
family in the ae ^

and younger son, and

6o

gone to Harwich relative to Captain Bou-
verie's interment.

Dennis stopped only to glean all the in-
formation he could obtain from the cour-
teous and intelligent porter: then, an-
guished with grief, enquired out his way
to the Borough, and mounting the roof of
the Seaview coach, only arrived at the
gate of De Moreland castle about an hour
previous to his encounter with Falkland.

61

CHAPTER V.

At length the moment arrived in which
Falkland had appointed to join the troops
under the command of Major Walsingham,
who had lately exchanged from General
Aspenfield's regiment, and was a particular
friend of Falkland's; when summoning
Dennis, and led by the muffled drums- and
dulcet fifes sad sounds, they joined m
mournful procession to the water side.

The village clock struck ten, and a sig-
nal gun was fired from the sloop to aiv
Bounce to the porter at De Moreland
castle to open the portal and each avenue
to the chapel, where the body was to lie
until the hour appointed by the r ctor for
interment. The gun was answered by a
discharge of musquetry : the band and
bugles of Major Walsingham's regiment,
with the band, drums and fifes of the in-
fantry corps on that station, commenced
their mournful mekdy. These signals,
with the phenomenon of a military pro-

62

cession at night to sacred music, called
all the inhabitants of Seaview from their
dwellings; and soon the beach was illu-
mined by every light that could be col-
lected, while one solitary candle, in a
turret of the castle portal, glimmered its
faint record of the indignities prepared
by the orders -of Lord De Moreland for
the remains of his gallant grandson.

The sympathizing crew of the sloop,
animated by the signals of awakened en-
thusiasm from shore, conveyed more cir-
cumstantially by fishermen and others who
put off in boats to attend the aquatic pro-
cession, and promptly the body was low-
ered into the mournfully arrayed galley
prepared for the purpose, into which Ellen,
the heart-clad mourner, with her orphan
girl, the captain of the sloop, with two
brother officers of the deceased, had previ-
ously been stationed ; while the other offi-
cers of the vessel, with sailors in their best
rigging, and the two domestics of the wi-
dow, followed in other boats to shore, ac-
companied by the now electrifying sound
of minute guns, responded by the doleful
ruffle of muffled drums, the soft wale of

63

the fife, and other plaintive melody from
shore.
► All that remained of a hero slain was
received with affecting solemnity by the
host of respecting mourners on the beach,
and was slowly borne, as if parting with
the worth they carried gave a pang that
taught each step to linger, up the winding
acclivity toward the castle. Ellen, witl}
her alarmed and weeping child clasped by
the hand, followed with unfaltering pace,
in close contact with the pall which cover-
ed her heart's long cherished idol ; and her
firmness, in doing so, filled all who beheld
her with amazement.

" Was it the composure of apathy, or
was it notoriety she sought, for fortitude ?M
they mentally asked ; since firmness, now
stretched beyond what nature seemed to
sanation, led to suspicion of its genuine
stamp : but, arrived at the chapel, and still
in close contact with the last home of her
husband, she stood on an elevated platform
where the body rested ; when the various
lights beneath her disclosed her face to all
from under her mourner's hood, which she
had raised a little to pacify the Certified

64

Adelaide; when the pallid hue of that
face, the mental desolation tt pourtrayed,
banished suspicion, degrading to affec-
tion, from every beholder's- mind \ and
tears trickled from many a sympathetic
eye when the}' read in her still heavenly
countenance a wreck of happiness so un-
equivocal, so total.

Doctor Woodehouse, the rector of Sea-
view, though discouraged from such atten-
tion by every line of the letter he received
from Lord De Moreland's secretary rela-
tive to this interment, yet, through per-
sonal respect to the well known virtues of
the deceased, received the corpse at the
castle gate, and was eagerly entreated by
the captain of the sloop, and poor Bouve-
rie's brother officers, to shorten the heart-
rending exertions of the sad widow's forti-
tude by proceeding to instant interment*

" For in all the hours of our voyage/'
they said, "we missed her not from the
coffin's side, except while she gave a kiss
and blessing to her child ere the sweet and
lovely innocent sunk to rest; and whose in-
cessant heart-melting prattlings relative to
her father must have forcibly increased tlie

66

miraculous exertions of her mother for
firmness, through a task which exalted af-
fection, and almost unexampled conjugal
tenderness, had assigned her : for, finding
her husband deserted in his last moments
by all his relatives, for his union with her,
she resolutely determined never to forsake
his remains while his body rests on the
surface of the earth/*

The rector promptly acquiesced, and
Ellen was gently informed of it. She
shuddered, and tears sought to aid her
with their genial relief; but promptly
she banished their efforts to comfort her.
Conviction had, for many a passing mo-
ment, told her she could not sustain her
fortitude much longer ; and with a swell-
ing sigh of anguish, thrilling through the
heart of every sympathizer, Ellen acceded
to the corse of her husband being wrested
for ever from her sight.

" But his child," she said, " his child1
is overpowered, and I dare not further
wound her. Norah, take your charge now.
Oh ! now my all !' I could have wished
— yet how could I have wished her to
prove a stoic in such a moment ? — " and

66

■vi th convulsive emotion she gave her
.child to Norah, to remain in the chapel
during $ie last awful ceremony;, and draw-
ing her hood over her face, she took her
station as chief mourner.
I The church part of the awful ceremony:
was finely delivered byDoctorWoodehouse;
the body was borne by soldiers to the an-
cient mausoleum of the De Morelands,and
placed by the side of him in whose rescue
Bouverie had filially met his death wounds.
The sequel of the sacred ceremony was im-
pressively performed by the sympathising
rector; but, from the formation of this ce-
metery, the last military honour could not
be paid immediately over the grave; but
those appointed to fire the sad tribute,
drawn up at the exterior of the building,
discharged their volley there. Ellen wait-
ed for the last shot, remained for the door
of the mausoleum to be closed, which ex-
cluded her for ever, as she believed, from
the remains of Bouverie, when, turning at
the voice of the friends who had attended
her sad voyage from Harwich, she beheld
their countenances bedewed with tears for
the brother hero they had lost, and beam-

67

ing with kindest sympathy for her, when
fortitude, having now lost its impellent to
exertion, her firmness, that would not feel
one softening emotion lest it should m-
nerve the resolution she had determined
should prove unfaltering, now sunk at the
melting gaze of sympathetic pity, and El-
len, subdued, fell senseless to the ground.

Sensibly felt was the sensation of com-
miseration for the situation of this most
interestingly lovely, suffering mourner;
and each individual present who had a
house to receive her in eagerly pressed
to have her removed thither, as an asylum
of more comfort than the inhospitable
castle of De Moreland : but the house of
Falkland was accepted for her by the bro-
ther officers of her Bouverie as her present
sanctuary, on account of its more conve-
nient proximity, and from the profession
of its owner proving of benefit to her.

The morrow found the heart-stricken
widow of Bouverie too ill to leave her bed,
and for three entire weeks the power of
quitting it was denied her ; during which
period she experienced the most unremit-
ting fraternal tenderness and attention

68

from Falkland, as her host and her physi-
cian too, Mrhilst between him and the little
Adelaide the most ardent attachment com-
menced ; for his gently sweet benevolence
of maimers attracted all children to nestle
round him, whilst the extreme beauty, do.
cile disposition, and engaging prattle, of
this child enchained his fancy ; whilst the
misfortunes or her early life — bereaved of
one parent, the other but a transient bless*-
ing, bearing swiftly from her on the fleet
wings of sorrow stamped decline — toucl>
ed his heart, and gave interest to every
thought of Adelaide.

Nor did the drooping invalid experience
any thing approaching to neglect or un-
kindness from the females of Falkland's
family ; for Martha possessed a feeling
heart, and was well skilled in all the phar-
macopoeia of kitchen physic, and in every
essential for a tender nurse -r while Miss
Alicia, as it was the fashion to be all anxi-
ous sympathy for the lovely young widow,
attended to her with infinitely more feeling
than Falkland expected her to evince, now
she was grown too young to be thoughtful
about any thing.

69

As soon as Ellen was able to leave her
bed she hoped she should lind strength to
undertake a removal; and, shocked at the
trouble she was occasioning in the house of
a humane anil personally a perfect stranger,
entreated Falkland to procure a small house
or lodging for her as contiguous to his
dwelling as possible.

" My dear madam," said Falkland, " we
will talk and think of these things when I
have trained my mind to sufficient forti-
tude for submitting to a separation from
your fascinating daughter, and then your
removal must not be to any other dwelling
in Sea^ iew, since I would recommend your
removal from the coast entirely. The sea
is not the air for you at present*"

" Mr. Falkland," Ellen replied, "I
will never quit Seaview : the shaft pierced
with its mortal wound ere I arrived here;
and no clime, no air, can exhale balm for
me. While following my late treasure to
his grave, my eyes eagerly wandered in
search of my own. At the door of the
De Moreland cemetery I beheld a little
mound ; — that, if my boon is granted me,
shall be my resting-place. My attraction

70

to Seaview you now must believe invin-
cible; and well has your skill informed
you that nothing on your part, nothing on
mine^ can now avail to spare me to my
child.3'

The humid eyes of Falkland betrayed to
Ellen he cherished no hope for the blessing
■of maternal protection being long spared to
her Adelaide, and from that moment the
most unreserved communications were
made by Mrs. Bouverie to him relative
to those worldly arrangements she wished
to make ere her last sand was run.

During the long professional station of
General Aspenfield in Ireland, Ellen had
become acquainted with the lovely Rosa-
lind, and an uninterrupted intimacy of
hourly increasing friendship had subsisted
between them until suspicion attainted
the loyalty of Bellenden, when the gene-
ral roughly broke the bands of his daugh-
ter's intimacy with the child of a supposed
rebel, but could not the affection they still
cherished for each other; and Falkland,
having been the chosen of llosalind's heart,
assured poor Ellen, independently of every
other attestation to his worth, that he me-

71

rlted her unlimited confidence, and that he
would prove a tender paternal guardian to
her insulated orphan, whom she implored his
permission to bequeath to his charge; in
supplicating for which she was intuitively
urged by a fondly cherished hope that
Falkland and Rosalind might be eventually
united; and that in the wife of her guar-
dian Adelaide would find, when her years
would more require it, maternal protection
from her mother's friend : and beside, too,
in all her mental researches for a guardian
for her child she could find no one in so
many points unexceptionable as Falkland,
who, although young and unmarried, was
a steady pacer in the path of rectitude, was
strictly religious, honourable, humane, and
gently tempered ; was highly informed,
and had power, as he would, doubtlessly,
have inclination, to attend to the health of
her Adelaide, and carry her safely through
those ailments incidental to childhood,
when bereaved of a mother's tender care.

The delusive malady of Mrs. Bouverie
seemed to relax from its severity to enable
her to make a complete arrangement of all
her child's already undisputed inheritance.,

72

to remove every difficulty in the path of her
guardian upon pecuniary subjects, and to
trace out the plan she desired to have pur-
sued in the education of Adelaide, whom
she wished to be fitted, in all respects, to
fulfil the duties of domestic life in a station
of mediocrity, which, she doubted not, her
lot was cast in ; and, to enforce many of
the principles of religion and other im-
portant precepts, she wrote, with her dy-
ing hand, essays on each subject she was
anxious to nave impressed upon her Ade-
laide's heart.

Not one arrangement for the future be-
nefit of Adelaide, not one act of mortal
duty, while none of religious import were
neglected by her, were left unfinished,
when the pure spirit of the gentle Ellen
took flight, to reap those joys of immor-
tality she had earned. She died in her
twenty-first year, a martyr to no common
griefs, and was, at her own express desire,
when permission was obtained from Lord
De Moreland, buried at the dcor of the
mausoleum, where, by the manoeuvres of
Lady Leyburn, her corse, as she had fore-
seen, was refused admission-

73

Falkland waited not for the solemn
obsequies to be paid to the remains of
the lovely as unfortunate Ellen ere he
placed her orphan and her attached nurse-
maid in a most airy suite of rooms to a
southern aspect, far removed, in his large
dwelling, from the chamber of her second
dire calamity; and when the interment of
Mrs. Bouverie was past, and that the pite-
ous wailing of Adelaide for the absence
of her adored mother bad in some degree
subsided, and that Falkland's feeling mind
could abstract itself from the afflicting
scene he had witnessed, he planned and
had executed with promptitude every
thing which anxiety could devise to make
the nursery of his infant charge commodi-
ous and genial to her health; whilst Miss
Alicia beheld all this anxious attention for
the formation of a complete nursery with
smirking complacency, which none but
Mr. Crow, the shopman, understood; for
with the keen eye of jealousy he read all
that was passing in the mind of this young,
growing beauty, whom for the last four
years he had been laying close siege to,
and, until the last one, with no unfavour-

VOL. I. E

74

able symptoms of success ; but Falkland
had in every way disappointed his ambiti-
ous projects, and Falkland was now his
detestation.

From the perspicuous arrangements of
Mrs. Bouverie Falkland found no imped-
ing obstacle to the prompt attainment of
the fortune of his ward, which proved ex-
actly what her mother had represented it
— eight thousand pounds sterling, com-
bined from the wreck of Ellen's own inhe-
ritance, Lord Roscoville's baptismal gift
to the child, with arrears and other effects
devolved to her from Captain Bouverie;
but his portion as a younger child, which
Adelaide had an unquestionable right to,
with the bequests in the late Lord Rosco-
ville's will, Ellen entreated Falkland never,
by legal application, to claim for Adelaide,
lest it should entail upon her that enmity
from her father's family which Montagu
and herself had suffered oy.

When Miss Alicia found how good was
the fortune of the little orphan, and great
her expectations, she became reconciled to
the plague of an interloping chfld in the
house, since she concluded Falkland would

75

make her pay nobly for the trouble she*
occasioned ; but great was her disappoint-
ment to find the scrupulously honourable
Falkland had thrown the fortune of his
ward into chancery, and had made an ar-
rangement for a very inconsiderable remu-
neration for the additional expenses she
would cause, notwithstanding his having
added Dennis to his household at the ear*
nest request of his young fascinater, Ade-
laide, "not to send poor, pretty, limping
Dennis from her."

Falkland had now a being to attend to
that excited a constant tender interest,
that had power to draw him from his me-
lancholy reveries when the duties of his
profession did not occupy his thoughts ;
and from the moment Adelaide became
his ward the task of her education com-
menced his favourite project. The plans
of her exemplary mother, which she had
discussed with him, he had carefully com-
mitted to paper, that he might co-operate
in every wish of hers, as far as circum*
stances would admit of.

Mrs. Bouverie, from national prejudice
had a strong objection to school education

e 2

76

for females. An amiable, well informed
English gentlewoman as a governess, under
the watchful inspecting eye of her guardi-
an, was the instructress poor Ellen wished
to fall to the lot of her child, and Falkland
determined such a one he would seek for
with scrupulous care against the period
Adelaide should require one ; but her first
few years he resolved to take upon himself,
to lay the best basis for mental intellect
in the firm foundation of health ; and in
which time he doubted not being able to
steal, imperceptibly, into her mind the
ground of much useful knowledge, beside
implanting there sound principles of reli-
gious and rhoral virtues, such as it would
have been her mother's province to incul-
cate.

Falkland had ever been an early riser,
and each morning he added to his pupil's
store of religion and book lore her mother
had begun by half an hour's instruction
in his study, and then took her on a ramble
to teach her kindness to her fellow beings,
in visits to near and poor patients, where
no infectious distemper reigned, ere Miss
Alicia, who loved her bed, and was become

77

a loitering* votary at the toilet, was ready-
to appear at the breakfast-table; and so
apt hi comprehension, so ready at attain-
ment he found his tender pupil, in every
branch he yet attempted to instruct her in,
that what he feared would prove a toil im-
pelled by duty soon became a pleasure led
on by inclination ; and, ere three months
had elapsed, the parentally adoring Falk-
land determined, except in point of per-
sonal accomplishments, none but himself
should have the gratification of leading
the mind of Adelaide to perfection.

78

CHAPTER VI.

At length, when Adelaide had just entered
her fifth year, Falkland was summoned to
Winchelsea at the earnest desire of Ma-
jor Walsingham, who had been danger-
ously wounded in a duel, and believed no
one but Falkland could save his life y and
ere his departure to his friend, Falkland
consigned his adored charge, in the most
impressive manner, to Miss Alicia's care,
with strict injunctions not to take her any
where in possibility infection of any de-
scription could reign.

The moment after Falkland's departure,
Miss Alicia, resolved to play the strict go-
verness during his absence, angrily sum-,
moned the weeping Adelaide from her
exalted station upon the frame work of a.
garden rolleiy upon which she had mounted
to gaze after the chaise and four which*
rapidly conveyed her guardian from her,
— "to come to her sampler, and make
better use of her eyes than whimpering

79

after Mr. Falkland, who made an idle
idiot of her."

Adelaide hated her sampler, and exceed-
ingly disliked Miss Alicia, she yet instantly
obeyed her; and was re-entering the house
with her, deliberating in her own mind —
(s should she, or should she not, worry her
by affecting stupidity, as she sometimes
successfully did, to tease he**,*' when Mrs.
and the Miss Birch's, the wife and daugh-
ters of the master of a neighbouring great
academy, arrived, to the great relief of
Adelaide, come to invite Mr. Falkland
and Miss Old worth to see the performance
of Cato, the latter end of the week, at-
tempted by Doctor Birch's pupils.

The three young ladies were in absolute
despair at finding Mr. Falkland would not
be returned by that time, and Miss Patty,
who was more deeply in love with the
handsome young doctor than either of her
sisters, considering it good generalship to
pay court to him, in his absence, through
his idolized ward, requested that Miss
Bouverie should be brought to see the
play with so much warmth of importu-

80

city, that Miss Alicia at length, elated by
Miss Patty's civilities to herself, was led to
acquiesce.

The moment Mrs. and the Miss Birch's
departed, Miss Alicia, retiring to her apart-
ment to study over her wardrobe, to strike
out an elegant dress for the play, lost all re-
collection of the sampler and the rigid task
she had purposed setting Adelaide, who,
completely emancipated from all control
and observation, since her nurse believed
her to be with Miss Old worth, she quickly
tied on her bonnet, and pillaging her little
garden of every blooming flower, she placed
them in her work-basket, from which she
unceremoniously dislodged every silk and
wortsed belonging to her hated sampler, and
sallied forth to realize a project some weeks
formed between her and a little girl In the
neighbourhood, daughter to a poor woman
whom Falkland was extremely kind to;
and, undiscovered by any individual in her
guardian's house, Adelaide returned from
her excursion, replaced her worsteds, and
hastened to her garden, that, while she
worked there, she might recover her ex-*

m

cessive agitation, ere she presented herself
before her beloved and ever anxiously ob-
servant nurse.

In about two hours after the return of
the trembling Adelaide from her clandes-
tine expedition, a young gentleman of
noble mien, but with the sallow aspect of
ill health, rung at the gate, and inquired
for Doctor Falkland ; when, upon learning
he was gone from home, he seemed much
chagrined, and upon being requested to
leave his name, " that Mr. Falkland might
call upon him on his return from Winchel-
sea," he declined compliance, saying, " that
ere many hours elapsed he hoped to be some
leagues at sea ;" and as it was concluded
he was an invalid, who wished to consult
Mr. Falkland ere he commenced his voy-
age, no one bestowed a thought upon him
after he quitted the door.

Miss Alicia spent so much time at her
toilet the evening of the play, and walked
so leisurely across the fields to Dr. Birch's
academy, lest she should heat her face and
look blowzed, that, by the time she and
her young companion arrived, the theatre
was nearly thronged to suffocation, and

il5

8*2

the performance going almost immediately
to begin ; intelligence imparted by Miss
Patty, who had, in painful anxiety, awaited
for all of the Falkland party it was her sad
doom to expect, and who now commenced5
with the dismayed Miss Alicia a rapid
march through the stable yard, across
which the dramatis persons© ■ were making
their way to the theatre, when the gates-
having been left open, after the admission
of the last carriage, a horse belonging,- to-
some of the attendants rushed in, alarmed
by something, when, in his wild affright,,
he took a plunging circuit near Miss Pat-
ty's party, when Miss Alicia letting go the
hand of Adelaide to save herself, and Miss
Patty being too far advanced to render her,
any assistance, the helpless child, in her
intuitive start aside to save herself from
inevitable death from the frantic steed,
must have been precipitated down a steep
flight of stone steps into an impetuous,
stream, only a most beautiful boy of thir-
teen years old, who was most splendidly aU
tired for Marcia, forget ial of the sex he
had assumed for the evening, and led by
the impulse of natuie^ broke from the bearer

83

of" his spangled train, and, with the most
heroic intrepidity, darted to the child's
aid, snatched her from impending peril,
and secured her further safety and his
own by running down the steps with her
out of the further reach of the formidable
animal, who was at length caught and led
away; when instantly the humanely he-
roic boy ranted up the steps, takings three
at each stride, bearing the trembling Ade-
laide in his arms, with his fine train demo-
lished, which, upon perceiving, he put out
of the way of impeding his future progress,
by coolly popping his head through the
largest fracture*

This perilous incident had so retarded
Miss Alicia's progress,, that every seat in
the theatre was occupied ere she reached
the door, "and all that Miss Patty now
could do to pay court to the ward of the
fascinating Falkland was to fly behind the
scenes, and make interest with the head
usher and the great boys to grant permis-
sion to her and two friends to sit at the
prompter's wing; and accordingly, through-
her influence, they obtained accommoda-
tions there,

Mr. Fagg, the prompter, presented Miss"
Patty and Miss Old worth with play-bills,
but concluding she could not yet read,
omitted one to little Adelaide, who looked
up at him so meekly wistful, that her
young deliverer, who was standing near
her, instantly presented her with one, and
with a countenance of smiling animatioa
inquired " if she could read it?"

" Yes, Ma'am," lowly articulated Ader
laide, blushing brightly.

" The boy burst into a. laugh of delighted
naivetS, as he repeated " Ma'am !! There,
Mr. Fagg, do you tremble for my deport-
ment any longer?"

" Indeed I do, though," returned Mr.
Fagg 5 "for you will no more conduct
yourself like a female through this long
play than yon can keep from frolics for a
day."

ft Nay, nay, Sir, but Miss Fatty can tell
you I never pranced or capered one bit
while she was so good to complete my
tout ememble for me; except, indeed,
while she tickled my throat, trammeling
it with this necklace,"

Miss Alicia was now alt impatience to

85

learn who this beautiful, lively boy could
be; but the curtain arose at this moment
for the prologue* and. silence was imposed
on all.

The loud applause of courtesy and kind-
ness to juvenile exertion, by violent clap-
ping of hands, terrified the young Adelaide,
who had never heard an}' thing of the kind
before, and who now, from her situation,
not seeing from what cause this clamour
proceeded, her terror augmented, and she
unceremoniously clung to Miss Marcia, as
she called her; who, having rescued her
from one danger, she doubted not would
protect her from another.

Adelaide was not deceived in her expect-
ation : this new friend felt nothing like ob-
jection to taking care of her, and, in the
spirit of kindness, which was a leading fea-
ture in his young mind, he promptly strode
away with her to look for toys to amuse
her during the play, which he concluded
was of too sombre a cast to entertain such
a baby; and soon he was compelled to re-
turn, at the summons of the prompter, to
make his entree, having had time only to

find a humming top and a trap ball far
Adelaide's recreation.

The extreme beauty of this boy's coun-
tenance, and the graceful movements of
his person, arrested instant admiration ;
but promptly the females of Dr. Birch's
family had the mortification of observing
the fine crape train they expected to prove
such an embellishment to the play, and in
which he had looked so majestic, now
twisted into a hard knot, dangling at his.
heels ; the method he, with his friend. Sy-
phax, had taken to remedy the fractures.
it had sustained.

And now between the pauses of eacta
change of scene Miss Alicia gleaned from
Miss Patty Birch " that this fascinating
boy, named Bouverie, was a ward of LokcL
De Moreland's j and although a very dis-
tant relative (springing from a collateral
branch of the family) was, in failure o£
male issue, next heir to the titles, after
Lord Roscovilie.

" That Lord Ley bum and Bouverie had
been sent together to Westminster school*
but* from the misconduct of the former,, it,

8?

had been in contemplation to expel him;,
when Lord de Moreland instantly with-
drew him from this meditated disgrace,,
and, with him, Bouverie, who had been
going on with great eclat in his learning,,
and had sent them both, lately, to her fa-
ther, who was not much rejoiced at the
trust reposed in him, since Lord Ley burn,
he feared, was bad in stamina, Math his.
evil propensities nurtured by the indulg-
ence of his mother, who never herself
contradicted him, or suffered others to do-
so; as, by the magic of indulgence, she-
hoped to twine so firmly round his affec-
tion as to make him increase her joiniure>
and the portions of his sisters when he-
came of age.

" Whilst as to Bouverie," continued Miss.
Patty, " my father could do every thing
with him to train him up in cultivation
of superior talent, and as a worthy member
of moral and religious society, could he
separate him from Lord Leyburn ; but that
must not be, since it is decreed by the
£ higher powers that they are to tread the
same path of instruction and pursuits ; and
thus, my father says, ' the most promising

S8

plant of various excellence he ever had to
rear will be blasted by the noxious influ-
ence of pernicious example :' for the inge-
nuous, unsuspicious, volatile Bouverie is
the being, of all others, to be led into the
plans of those he associates with ; for
Bouverie is ever the spontaneous per-
former, who reflects not ere he acts. —
Amenable to the guidance of impulse, the
first attraction is what he bends to. On
receipt of his pocket allowance, when he
sallies forth, if an object of charity first
strikes his eye, his hand becomes empty in
its relief; or if a scheme of pleasure has
claim in its precedence, he promptly fol-
lows it, and spends his all in its pursuit;-.
while by all his companions he is loved and
feared: — loved for his uncommon sweet-
ness of temper, and goodness of heart; and
feared for his prowess, which he only ex-
erts for the defence of others, since he is the
established champion of the weak against
the strong : yet these very urchins, whom
he will challenge whole hosts of greater
bovs than himself in defence of, he will
soundly thrash if he detects them in plun-
dering a nest, or in any instance evincing

89

cruelty to those animals that can make
neither resistance or complaint/5

The play went on famously, and the
boys performed to admiration ; although
the hoyden lash which Bouverie ever and
anon gave the annoying knot dangling at
his heels, to hurl it from impeding his
movement, excited a universal smile, diffi-
cult to be suppressed ; but at length poor
Marcia, weary of this innovation of gravity,
gave an unlucky, conspicuous arch wink at
Jiiba, when, iu the fourth act, they were
avowing their mutual love, which had such
an effect upon the risibility of the Numi-
dian prince, that, to save himself from a
maUapropos laugh, he gulped it down, by
converting it into an audible sigh, as being
more lover like; which Bouverie re-echoed
by a deep groan, so ludicrous that the au-
dience could not resist its influence; and
not until the highly disconcerted Doctor
Birch had ordered the drop to fall, and had
gone round to lecture these comic perform-
ers into tragic gravity, did the universal
risibility subside.

.At length the performance terminated,
and, according to theatrical record, amid

90

thunders of applause ; when Miss Patty,
never slumbering in her attention to the
Falkland party, taking his Adelaide by the
hand, conducted Miss Old worth to the
rooms laid out with refreshments, where
poor Miss Alicia had the excruciating
mortification of finding that the greater
part of the nbbility had departed from the
theatre; and that only a comparative few
were left to admire her dress, which, in her
zeal to render worthy their applause, she
had lost an earlier opportunity of displa}7-
ing to them.

There was many a fair lady present be-
side Miss Patty Birch who sighed in secret
for the fascinating Falkland, and who had,
like her, hoped to win his love by aiming
at it through attention to his ward, but
who, like her, had been hitherto foiled in
the attempt, since Falkland determined
not to dissipate her infant mind by early
visiting ; therefore all invitations for her
to the hospitable houses he was lured to
were negatived by him ; and by this nu-
merous train of Adelaide's woers, for the
heart of her guardian, Miss Patty was de-
spoiled of the speculating advantage of

91

exclusively fondling this attractive child';
and so universal was the ambition to caress
this little arbitress of each sighing fair one's
fate, that she was soon borne oif from
Miss Alicia's view, whose memory prompt-
ly realised the old adage of " out of sight,
out of mind y3 for she was so charmed with
the gay company surrounding her, she de^
termined to stay supper, not once bestow-
ing a thought upon the poor babe she liad
in care ; who, however, ere the banquet
commenced, had been carried off by Den-
nis, sent express for her by Falkland, who
was just returned from Winchelsea, and
one day earlier than he had been ex-
pected.

At length Miss Alicia was compelled to
the hard necessity of bidding the atten-
tive Miss Patty adieu, since she found
every guest had departed, save herself j
and her remembrance of Adelaide now
awakened, she learned, " the wooden-
legged servant had carried her home long
since;" when, boiling with indignant rage
at Norah and Dennis— since Falkland's
name had not been mentioned to her— for
presuming to interfere where she was ia

92

question, she winged her way home ; and
the moment the luckless Dennis opened
the door of her home for her she poured
forth her ire in the most violent terms for
his presumption, and further insolence, in
not waiting to learn her commands.

" Oh ! faith, Miss, you have no call to
be mad with me," Dennis quietly replied *r
ie for sure 'twas his honour who ordered
myself to be bringing her away forthwith,
feared she would be kilt by the pestilence y
and sure, Miss, yourself would never be
expecting me to be waiting for any hum-
bugging command, whin 'twas the dar»
lingfs life was at stake."

Miss Alicia now was terror-struck at the
information thus implied of Falkland's be-
ing returned, and possibly within hearing
of her vixenly attack of Dennis ; and too
soon her dismaying fear was realized :
Falkland opening his study door, with a
bed-candle in his hand, came forth, and
with an aspect of unequivocal resentment
he ironicallv " thanked her for her strict
adherence to her promise of complying
with the request he had so seriously made
her relative to the care of his tender ward %

93

since a pestilentially heated theatre, mid-
night revels, and walking through the
humid air of a foggy night, must he ex-
actly what he could have wished for her :"
and, with a stately bow, he passed on,
to retire for the night.

" Mighty pretty treatment, truly !" ex-
claimed Miss Alicia, flouncing* into one of
the hall chairs, and going off into an hy-
steric of passion, "at being reprimanded
for her kindness to the odious brat ; and
at having no alarms awakened for her, who
had walked through the humid air of a
foggy night, as well as Miss Adelaide, who,
if the truth was known, was carried every
step, she doubted not."

" That's what she was, the darllngt"
exclaimed Dennis, now offering a glass of
water, u wrapped up in his honour's roque-
laure, as snug as a gosling under a goose's
wing \ for myself took care the big cloak
the master so anxiously sent for her should
be doing its duty, whilst my arms was its
girth."

Instantly Miss Alicia knocked the offer-
ed glass of water out of Dennis's hand,
and perceptibly increased the vehemence

94

of her fit; when Dennis, summoning Mar-
tha and Mr. Crow to her aid, judiciously
left her to their superior management 5
when a potent infusion of flattery, and a
cordial specific against cold, were admini-
stered by the latter, with such good effect,
that she soon was able to retire to dream
of Falkland's disrespect and superior in*
teres t for his odious ward.

On the subsequent morning Falkland
had the consolation of finding his beloved
dive had sustained no injury through her
revel, except by a diminution of the roses
on her cheeks ; and from herself he learn*
ed every particular of her evening's amuse-
ment, and of her escape from the peril the
frightened horse had menaced her with ;
and in her artless account of Bouverie's
rescue of and kindness to her she ener-
getically deplored " this sweet pretty Miss
Mama's" mamma allowing her to be so
very a hoyden, that almost all the com-
pany called her Master or Mr"

il Why, do you know, papa Falkland,"
she continued, " when she came out of
the place like a peep-show, where they all
said their lessons by heart before a grave

95

old man named Cato, and before a great
deal of company too, who clapped their
hands, oh ! so often, for joy, because
their boys and girls said their tasks so
well ; for the papas and mammas thought
they never missed one word ; while all the
time there sat quite snug a good-natured
man, with a book in his hand, putting
them in every time they forgot. — Well,
papa, and so, when pretty Miss iVJarcia
came into the ugly lumber-place where we
sat, I was quite sorry to see her stride
over forms and boards and everv thing
that came in her way, minding no more
— let me whisper it quite close in your
ear, papa — she minded no more showing
her legs than Miss Alicia does when she
has grand silk stockings on."

Falkland's displeasure was more forcibly
awakened than it had before been against
Miss Old worth for taking Adelaide to
this play, when he learned the peril she
had encountered; although the little girl,
from the intuitive kindness of an affec-
tionate heart, wishing to spare those she
loved pain upon her account, made as light
of the danger she had escaped as her gra-

96

titucle to her preserver would permit her
to clo.

Miss Alicia was too indignant against
Falkland for his displeasure and inatten-
tion to her to quit her room this morning,
Avhere the obsequious Mr. Crow paid her
as early a visit as she would admit of;
when, after his professional questions were
asked and replied to, the designing cox-
comb purposely leading the conversation
to Falkland's extraordinary fondness for his
ward, which led him to be unkind and un-
grateful to others, he struck the chord of
Miss Alicia's jealous alarms; and eager he
now found her to take in everv word he
chose to utter to increase that baleful
passion,

" But T have anatomized/' he said, " the
source of this fondness: it was inoculated
from his passion for her mother. Ay,
Miss Oldworth, can any one have beheld
Mi . Falkland and not discovered him to be
a man diseased with love? Lo! Mrs. Bou-
verie appears, and his tender attentions to
her could be the operation of no common
x;ause : he had been in Ireland, Madam,
where he saw and caught his malady ; and

97

as the lady proved, by breaking her heart
for him, her love for her husband was sin-
cere, Falkland's was a hopeless case.— A
female orphan, resembling this lady, is left
to his care, and he becomes infatuated by
the child. My dearest Madam, who shall
pretend to say there is not a strong infu-
sion of coming love in the case, from
which we may prognosticate a future
crisis in an union with this infectious be-
quest?"

Here a summon to the shop called Mr.
Crow from the apartment of Miss Alicia,
with whom he thus contrived to leave
proof as strong as holy writ that Mrs.
Bouverie had been the beloved of Falk-
land ; and that in Adelaide was invested
the reversion of his passion for her mo-
ther.

vol. i.

98

CHAPTER VII.

The following morning found not Miss
Oldworth's temper sufficiently harmonized
to lead her from her chamber, although
Falkland had, through gratitude to her
uncle's memory, inquired more than once
after her health, and had sent to offer his
professional services, which were haugh-
tily rejected.

Falkland, in no disposition to break his
heart for Miss Alicia's unjust resentment,
was loitering a few minutes after his
breakfast in the parlour, amusing himself
as a pleased spectator of the ludicrous
gambols Adelaide and her kitten were
sportively playing together, whilst Miss
Alicia's parrot was chattering unintelligi-
bly in a discordant tone, as if vehemently
chiding them for their frolics; and Falk-
land's dog, sitting by his master's side, wag-
ging his tail as he looked on Adelaide, yet
ever and anon turning his eye up to Poll

99

with an accompanying growl or bark, as if
in liis turn to chide her into quietness.

This singularly assorted party were thus
employed when Doctor Birch was an-
nounced, and entered, accompanied by a
most elegant looking and strikingly beau-
tiful boy, whom the doctor hastened to
present to Falkland.

" This, Mr. Falkland,'* he said, " is my
pupil, who was unfortunately from home
when you did him the honour of a call
yesterday. This, Sir, is Mr. Montagu
Bonverie, the Marcia of our late theatri-
cals."

Falkland was gracefully taking the hand
of the gallant boy, to breathe forth his ar-
dent gratitude for the rescue of his ward
from inevitable destruction, when his at-
tention was suddenly and painfully arrest*
ed by Adelaide flying to him, grasping his
arm, and carefully hiding her face on his
sleeve, vainly endeavouring to conceal an
impetuous flow of tears.

Falkland concluding she had sustained
some injury from the animal she had been
playing with, snatched her up in his arms
in wild dismay to examine, exclaiming—

f 2

100
<c Oh ! where, where are you hurt, my

child ?"

Adelaide succeeding in hiding her face
on his bosom, as her sobs became convul-
sive, Falkland gently contrived to obtain
a full view of her agitated countenance,
where no mark of injury appeared, no-
thing visible but excessive grief.

" Pray, pray let me go to nurse," she
sobbingly and lowly articulated.

" What, what can that cat have done to
her ?" exclaimed Falkland. u I perceive
no injury ; can you, Doctor Birch ?"

" Oh ! Sir," sobbed Adelaide, covering
now her blushing face with both her beau-
tifully formed hands, " poor pussy did not
hurt me ; but I could not stop my tears ;
indeed, indeed I could not ; for come they
would in spite of me to see a Montagu
Bouverie who was not my papa—my own,
own, own papa."

" Poor babe !" said Falkland, tenderly
pressing her to his fostering bosom ; "this
thrilling susceptibility portends for you
many an hour of misery through this life
of varied woes."

" I could not have credited," said Doc-

101

tor Birch, " such an instance of sensibility
in a child so young, had I not witnessed it."

" Nor could I believe/' returned Falk-
land, " that such a babe could cherish so
fond, so unfading a remembrance of her
parents, did not instances innumerable
arise to convince me of it. But Adelaide,
my beloved child, must no longer wefcp at
seeing this young gentleman, since he it
was who rescued }rou from that frightened
horse at Dr. Birch's."

" Oh! no, Sir; it was Miss Marcia who
saved me: — but if she was your sister, I
will be very glad indeed to see you
when I can forget the pain your name
gave me," said Adelaide, looking meekty,
with her still flowing eyes, at Bouverie,
who was almost ready to weep too at
having, though innocently, caused her so
much distress.

Falkland now hastened to explain to his
ward why her preserver had appeared in
female attire: and in listening to this ex-
planation her attention was insensibly led
from her recent cause of sorrow ; and her
grief, like that of the morn of life, was ra-
pidly succeeded by smiles, encouraged to

102

a stationary post by the playfulness of
Bouverie, whom she at length thought
" was almost 2$ funny as her kitten. "

In about three weeks after Montagu
Bouverie's rescue of Adelaide, a number
of countrymen bearing and attending the
apparently lifeless body of a boy, which
they had just drawn out of a neighbouring
mill-race, were overtaken by Falkland as
he was returning from visiting a round of
patients, and whom he instantly learned
were hastening to his house to obtain
every possible assistance ; when, waiting
to hear nothing further, he galloped
home to facilitate preparations to yield
efficient relief; and the moment the im-
mersed boy arrived, the operations for re-
storing suspended respiration were com-
menced, and with such rapid success that
the speaking faculties of all, which anxiety
had enchained, seemed restored with the
boy's perception ; when all, eager to tell
each particular relative to the accident,
Falkland soon learned his patient was a
truant pupil of Doctor Birch's, who had,
with some of his companions, strayed out
of bounds in a nutting party, and not

103

aware the wood they wandered into ran
along the bank of a mill-stream, they
climbed the trees which overhung it, when
a scuffle ensuing about a bunch of nuts
between two boys, the elder knocked the
younger out of the tree, who instantly fell
into the water beneath. His shrieks
reaching the countrymen, who were work-
ing in a neighbouring hop-ground, they
ran to the spot the cries attracted them
to; when another boy, apparently younger
and slighter than the one in peril, had
plunged into the water to his rescue, and,
with presence of mind which astonished
them all as they ran down a hill which
commanded a full view of the scene, dived
after the sinking boy, arose with him in
his grasp, and while with his feet he buoy-
ed himself and burden up, he grasped a
branch of a tree, which hansrino- out of
the immediate course of the rapid current,
he was enabled by great exertion to keep
his station until the men succeeded in
rescuing him from his perilous situation.

u There, there be the brave lad, peeping
at your work, Doctor!" exclaimed one of

104

the countrymen.—" Moy oyel as dripping
wet as if the soy had drowned him."

Falkland glanced his eager eye amid the
crowd in search of the hero, and beheld
Mm endeavouring to effect his retreat

' Mr. Bouverie !" exclaimed Falkland,
hastening towards him with extended
hand, " in you I am ever decreed to find
the preserver of a fellow being. Par.
don me, if I say you must not go. I am
an arbitrary man in these premises; and I
now lay violent hands on you to disrobe
you of your wet garments, and confine
you to a comfortable bed for a few hours.
The gallant preserver of my young ward
must not suffer from another exertion of
his humanity."

Bouverie assured Mr. Falkland " he
never got cold; and that wet garments
perfectly agreed with his constitution,
from use." I3ut soon he proved Falkland
to be indeed an arbitrary being ; yet with
30 gentle a grace, he charmed away resist-
ance. The two immersed boys were put
into comfortable beds, and persuaded by
Falkland to take the renovating cordials

105

he deemed necessary for them ere he
mounted a fleet steed, and galloped off
to inform Dr. Birch of what had occurred.

Although the peril was past, yet Doctor
Birch was shocked and distressed beyond
measure at such imminent danger having
menaced two of his pupils : but ere he
sallied forth to see the preserver and the
preserved, he went into the school-room,
to ascertain if all the rest were safely re-
turned; and to discover, if possible, who
had been on the nutting party, and who
had thrown Mellifbnt into the stream : but
to these latter interrogatories he ob ained
no answer; none would betray himself —
none betray his fellow.

" It is well, gentlemen, " said the Doc-
tor : " from Mellifont himself I shall now
seek information, and then woe be unto
the guilty* '

Long ere Doctor Birch arrived at the
house of Falkland, Bouverie had become
completely weary of lying in bed after
his vital warmth had been restored ; but
his clothes had all been taken away to be
dried, and there was nothing left him but
a shirt of Falkland's, which he had gone to

f5

106

bed in ; yet with eager scrutiny he glanced
his eyes around the room, in the hope
of some of his clothes having been for-
gotten, and beheld a pile of female ap-
parel laid on a chair; when, instantly
springing out of bed, he flew to this prize,
resolving to amuse himself by the frolic
of appearing in female attire; and being,
from his school theatricals, rather convers-
ant with their various forms and uses,
promptly equipped himself in the neat style
of a primitive English female servant, for
they were Martha's clothes laid there for
her evening toilette; since to keep the
spare beds aired, she occupied each a few
nights jn- their turn, and this was her pre-
sent apartment.

When at length ready to sally forth,
Bouverie felt a little at a loss which to
commence his quest of adventures, above
stairs or below; and as he hesitatingly
proceeded along a gloomy gallery, which
led to rooms on either side, a door sudden-
ly opened, and Miss Oldworth appeared
with a letter in her hand.

" Maitha," she lowly, yet hastily said,
" give this instantly to Mr. Crow to put

107

in the post-office for me; and tell him,
as he values my friendship, not to let any
individual in this house see the direction
on it :" and in evident agitation she closed
the door, not waiting for a reply, or looking
on the supposed Martha's face; the well
known sound of whose shoes along the
gallery had drawn the vengeful Alicia to
the clocr, in full security that the being
she was about to summon was anticipate
ingly at hand.

Bouveiie now proceeded, concluding,
from the charge of secrecy he had received
with it, that he had obtained a love epistle
of this antiquated damsel's to deliver, and
eagerly turning his eyes upon the inter-
dicted superscription, to his amazement he
beheld it directed to
" The Right Hon. Countess of Ley burn,
Roscoville-Abbey, Berks."

''Well," thought Bouveiie, "this sin-
gular correspondence can have nothing to
say to me or my exploits, so I shall have
no reluctance in executing my commis-
sion :" — and knowing his way to the shop,
having come from thence to his bed-room,
lie proceeded thither, without encountering

108

any individual ; and as he looked around for
Mr. Crow, he perceived some letters lying
on a desk, all sealed, as if ready for the
post ; and not doubting of their bein^ so.
he placed Mrs. Alice's packet in the midst
of them, and was just making it a question
whether he should sally forth into the street
in quest of more sportive adventures, when,,
to his own dismay, he beheld Doctor Birch
and Falkland at the glass door which open-
ed from the street.

Rapid was now the flight of Bouverie to
regain his chamber, where he hoped to dash
off Martha's, head-dress, get on his night-
cap, and dive into bed, ere the doctors
should present themselves at his bedside j
and as he was mounting the steps of the
stairs by half dozens, and had discomposed
Martha's cap to a station upon his nose, in
preparation for its removal, he encountered
Crow descending, who said, in a tone of
hurry and confusion —

" I have only been up, Martha, to con-
vey a kind note of condolence from one of
his school-fellows to Master Mellifont;" —
and too much embarrassed at having en-
countered any one in his embassy to nu-

10$

tice the active movements of the supposed
Martha, he rushed down stairs as Bouverie
rushed up, who bounded along the passage
with his cap over his eyes, from which he
could not extricate himself, the ribbon
having entangled around his neck; when,
mistaking the door he wished to enter, he
bounced into the room occupied by Melli-
font, who having his curtains drawn round
his bed, and conceiving the intruder to be
Mr. Crow returned to say something more
to him, hastily exclaimed —

" Oh, Sir! I have dropped the note you
brought me! It slipped off the bed, and
I cannot succeed in recovering it, my head
grows so giddy when I raise it off the pil-
low; and should it fall into Mr. Falkland's
hands, I should be undone."

Bouverie had bythis time worked the
cap a little off his eyes, and being as good-
natured as he was brave and volatile, hur-
ried, without speaking, to look for the pa-
per to restore it, since it was so important
to Mellifont, although they were mortal
foes in the school, at open and perpetual
warfare; but quickly he could not find it,
since it required shaking the hangings with

110

some violence ere it would drop from its
hiding-place -, and this generous enemy
was only in the act of picking it up when
the doctors entered.

Bouverie, now heartily ashamed of his
puerile prank, shrunk from the idea of
walking out of the room composedly to
pass undiscovered as the genuine Martha;
his alternative was, therefore, to remain
perdue at the far side of the bed, where
he had gone to in search of the note.

" This is no time to lecture you, Melli-
font,'5 said Doctor Birch, kindly taking his
hand. " I am come to congratulate you
upon your escape from as near an approach
to death as mortal could have been rescued
from ; so do not tremble thus, my poor boy,
but come, cheer up, and tell me exactly how
this accident happened."

Mellifont now commenced a faltering,
unconnected account, in which he prevari-
cated so much, the good Doctor laid his
hand upon his mouth.

" Hush ! Mellifont," said Doctor Birch,
<c this will not do; and grieved I am to
find, in the moment so awful a scene has
passed, in which the goodness of a merci-

Ill

fill Providence has been made manifest to
you, that you could so promptly fall back
into sin — the sin of prevarication; an evil
propensity in you which now, I much fear,
is indeed incurable. I must proceed by
catechism. Who was it threw you into
the water, Sir?"

" Why 1 was any one so wicked, Sir? — ■
My fall was so sudden, I did not remark it
was occasioned by any thing but accident.,r

" By the affected, silvery tone of your
voice I am instructed, from experience, to
know you are not adhering to truth, Mel-
lifont. Some one of your companions, in
the moment after you were taken out of
the water, informed the countrymen who
aided in your deliverance you had been
fighting in a tree, and your antagonist had
hurled you into the stream."

" It was Bouverie I suppose, Sir, as he is
always wrangling with me ; but, but indeed
my recollection is not yet clear enough to
state any thing positively ; though I am
pretty sure was I to make oath to its being
Bouverie I should not be perjured."

" Villanous traducer!" exclaimed Bou-
verie, dashing open the curtain which had

312

concealed him from observation, " dare
you to my face affirm that I threw you
into the stream ? — No, you dare not ; even
hardened in duplicity as you are. You
know, and so do I, full well who you
fought with, whilst I, the moment of
your scuffle, was many boughs above you,
pelting you with nuts you feared to climb
so high for, and singing out to you as you
boxed, < Britons, strike home !' Look, base
as cowardly defamer ! at this note you bid
me seek for you: knowing the hand, and
suspecting its import, I read it; with its
contents I could crush you into the rep-
tile that you are — could draw contempt
on him who offered you in it twenty
guineas to bring him off; but I will never
do that which my heart would condemn me
for. This paper you implored me to secure
for you, and therefore it shall not rise in
conviction against you, mercenary as you
are :" — and Bouverie, tearing it into atoms,
threw it out of the window, then returned
to the bedside, and continued —

" When you are able to defend yourself,
Sir, I shall make you acknowledge before
the whole school that I was not the vin>

lis

dictive wretch who aimed at your destruc-
tion; when, perhaps, you may learn I
deserved not such a calumny as this from
you."

" He shall hear it now," exclaimed Doc-
tor Birch, impetuously ; " he shall hear
that you were seen by many witnesses to
plunge into the stream to rescue him — that
you saved his life at the hazard of your
own,- — and thus he rewards his preserver."

" My dear Doctor/* said Bouverie, " I
wish you had spared him that reflection
yet: — but may I not ask you to forgive
my intemperance ? since that, I think, has
some pretence to claim your mercy, while
pardon for my truancy in straying out of
bounds I dare not sue for, since there I
feel myself culpable. Doctor Falkland's
forgiveness too I have to seek, and to ex-
plain how, restless spirit that I am! I came
to appear in his maid Martha's attire be-
fore him."

" Sorry am I to say, my young hero/'
replied Falkland, kindly taking his hand,
" that I cannot forgive you. After all you
sustained, and after the medicine you have
taken, you have acted most imprudently $

114

and I cannot give up the further infliction
of punishment by sentencing you, for a
few hours, to the confinement of a bed."

" My noble, but too spirited boy," said
Doctor Birch, " although you would not
obey my commands by remaining within
bounds, perhaps you will comply with my
earnest jequest, my earnest wishes, and
yield obedience to Doctor Falkland."

Bouvene bowed acquiescence, and in-
stantly quitted the room, followed by Doc-
tor Birch, who was anxious to hurry hirn
into bed to counteract the hazard he had
run ; while Falkland remained with Melli-
font, on whom he saw the noble conduct
of Bouverie, with his obligation to him for
life, had made a forcible impression, which
Falkland taking judicious advantage of,
added every influence to that impression ;
and at length, by the resistless magic of,
his winning eloquence, lured the boy, in
full contrition for his guilt and unconsci-
ous ingratitude, into a painful confession —

" That the torn note had been from Lord
Leyburn, (the boy who, in vindictive pas-
sion, had caused his accident,) offering
him a bribe of twenty guineas to conceal,

115

effectually, his having been the aggressor :
that having a most cruel and tyrannic
father, so penurious that he allowed him
scarcely a shilling pocket money, he had
unavoidably got deeply into debt, owing
nearly five pounds, which he had no means
to pay, not daring to apply to his father;
and who would only ill use his beloved
mother if he knew the circumstance :
that all this was known to Lord Leyburn,
which led him to offer that tempting bribe,
which, circumstanced as he was, he pos-
sessed not firmness to withstand."

Falkland's comments on this confession
•were not the harsh ones likely " to break
the bruised reed/' since horror at the fa-
ther led him to feel the crime of the son
almost extenuated ; and in commiseration
for the unfortunate boy he spoke soft
soothings to his troubled spirit, but yet
such soothings as were calculated to bind
him in the path of penitence- — penitence
which he at length acknowledged to Falk-
land he had to feel for a long catalogue
of offences against the laws of honour and
of truth.

" Since," he confessed, cr the parsimony

116

of his father had been so invincible, so
extreme, it had forced him, against the
.natural feelings of his mind, to many acts
of meanness, then, to those of duplicity;
until at length he found himself degraded*
through his necessities, into the mercenary
witness of the school, whose false testi-
mony could be bought in any cause ; for
which he had become the open scorn and
detestation of Bouverie."

When all these most painfully degrading
confessions were made, Falkland prevailed
on the agitated boy to allow him to reveal
all to Doctor Birch, as some extenuation of
his offences.

"And tell Bouverie too, Sir," said the
sobbing boy, cs and then I am sure the
noble fellow will forgive me."

Falkland lost not a moment in convey-
ing the confessions and contrition of Mel-
lifont to Doctor Birch, who had, at the
very moment of the entrance of this kind
missionary for peace, announced his deter-
mination upon Mellifont's immediate ex-
pulsion from his school ; and the instant
Falkland made his communications, Bou-
verie, with all the energy of his ardent

117

nature, implored that Mellifont might not
be expelled.

" For, driven upon the mercy of such a
parent, what, dear Sir, might be his fate ?
Oh ! you, who are a tender father, take
pity on him, and by your goodness make
the path of penitence alluring, until it be-
comes his unfaltering one of choice. His
present debt allow me to pay, Sir, and you
will save me from some extravagant folly;
but let him not know it, neither allow
the school to hear it, since Mellifont it
would pain, and others might conceive it
was a bribe for silencing his present accusa-
tion."

" Mr. Falkland," said Doctor Birch,
" have I not told you this was a plant of
great promise? Forbid it, Heaven, its ever
finding blight from noxious influence!"

" But, dear Sir," exclaimed the blushing
Bouverie, " do not let a promising plant,
reclaimed from a pernicious soil, perish for
want of aid."

" I do not mean it, my kind fellow," re-
plied the worthy Doctor. — "We know what
paternal severity has driven him to, and we
will now try the power of kindness : but as

118

to the debt, my generous boy, I cannot
leave you to pay all that, and therefore —

' * This matter, my dear friends, you need
not sacrifice your time in discussing/' said
Falkland ; " since the unfortunate youth
had found a banker ere I came to convey
his confessions to. you."

"Mr. Falkland! — Sir!" said Bouverie,
raising his brilliantly animated eyes in ad-
miring gaze upon him. — " I'll take physic
for you every hour if you desire me, and
keep my bed this month without murmur-
ing."

" Very well," said Falkland, smiling ;
" I'll be sure to dose you with all I think'
necessary while you are bed-ridden at my
command. But come, good Doctor, the
apothecary presumes to remind you of a
patient who requires the cordial comfort
of your forgiveness."

Doctor Birch now hastened with his
forgiveness to the penitent boy, whom he
promised to try another year; and if, in
that time,, his conduct evinced his contri-
tion was sincere, to prove a fostering father
to him ; and during that year of probation
the snare of temptation should not be

119

spread by necessity for his honour, since
he would make him the ^same allowance he
gave to his own sons.

Poor Mellifont was so sensibly affected
by his worthy preceptor's kind, parental
conduct to him, that Falkland almost trem-
bled for the boy's reason ; and the day
came not to its close ere Bouverie sat by
his pillow to give him his full pardon — to
encourage him in the path of rectitude
— 'to promise him his present friendship
and future favour, if he continued to de-
serve them,

120

CHAPTER VIII.

As Falkland arranged with Doctor Birch
not to send the boys home until every ap-
prehended effect from their immersion and
agitation had subsided, Bouverie, whom
he allowed to arise and dine, made one at
Falkland's hospitable board this day; and
who had many suspicions awakened in
his mind by the evident dismay Miss Ali-
cia evinced on learning he had been per-
sonating the primitive Martha that morn-
ing.

"Do not look so terrorized, dear Ma-
dam," he exclaimed, " for, on honour, I
executed your commission faithfully ; and
Mr. Crow, I doubt not, can assure you
your letter is absolutely on its way."

" I put a letter of yours, Madam, into
the post with my own hands to Lady Ley-
burn," said Mr. Crow.

" Lady Leyburn !M exclaimed Falkland,
in alarmed amazement : " Miss Old worth
Lady Leyburn's correspondent! Why I
knew not you were even acquainted,"

121

u Why, as to that, a — a — " returned Miss
Alicia, in evident embarrassment, "our —
our acquaintance commenced very lately,
while a — a — you were gone to attend Major
Walsingham. Her ladyship was then at
the castle for a few days; and — and a —
called on me to — to — to enquire the cha-
racter of a servant who once lived with my
dear uncle ; when I, being but a babe at
the time, could remember nothing of him ;
but I promised to inquire, but could obtain
no intelligence until to-day."

" Very extraordinary you never men-
tioned this visit of her ladyship's, Miss
Old worth/' said Falkland, with a pene-
trating look of incredulity.

Silence now prevailed (as the thoughts
of all had found active employment,) until
the entrance of Adelaide after dinner
according to established custom, when no
particular company dined with her guar-
dian.

Adelaide always exerted her abilities,
whenever thus admitted, to evince her
gratitude by showing off all her agremens,
dancing, or singing, or holding forth in
artlessly fascinating relation of all she had

VOL, i. g

heard and seen that day ; yet through all
this active part to please, in recompense
for being admitted, the natural feminine
timidity of her nature never sunk from
view, and the brightened tint of vermilion
mantled her cheeks as she commenced each
new requested exploit; and if she caught
an eye in earnest gaze upon her, or if a
word of praise or admiration sounded in
her hearing relative to her, her spontane-
ous blush was accompanied by a rising tear,
ready to betray that bashfulness was pained.
" How fascinating your lovely little ward
looks, Sir, when she blushes!" said Bouve-
rie, gazing in delight upon her as, at the
desire of her guardian, she capered in a
corner for their amusement. " How grace-
ful the animated little creature is in all her
movements, and how beautifully formed
she is! There! she blushes still more
brightly ! — Oh ! how I do love to see the
dear innocent blush !"

" That is a gratification you will often
receive, my young friend, if your praises
are so unqualified," said Falkland, expand-
ing his arms to admit the bashful Adelaide,
whose dancing had been promptly termi-

123

nated by Bouverie's remarks ; and who,
finding a hiding-place on her guardian's
bosom for her blushing face, softly whis-
pered—

" May I go to nurse, papa?"

Falkland perceiving Bouverie was pained
at having distressed her would not accede
to her request, hoping soon to allure her
from her confusion, and him from his em-
barrassment, by talking on other themes ;
when gently reminding Adelaide she had
not yet had any fruit, Miss Alicia, with her
jealous fires kindled to a blaze by the signi-
ficant glance of Mr. Crow as he retired from
table, in a burst of asperity exclaimed —

f* Pardon me, Mr. Falkland, if I do say
you are enough to ruin a hundred children;
to pet, and indulge, and pamper, where
severe reproof ought to be given for pride
and ill temper. Any one but you must
see what you call timidity and sensibility
in Miss Adelaide is nothing but humour,
arrogance, and petulance, that cannot
brook a remark, or to be looked at."

" Is it of my ward you are speaking,
Miss Oldworth?" demanded Falkland, in
amazement.

g2

124

-Ki Yes, Sir; I named Miss Adelaide."

" Well, Madam, as you never can con-
vert me to your belief," replied Falkland,
impressively, " I shall thank you not to
make the attempt; since I should be sen-
sibly grieved to break the bonds of perfect
amity with the niece of Mr. Oldworth."

Miss Alicia, highly enraged, arose in-
dignantly, and left the room in majestic
hauteur; when Falkland promptly com-
menced a conversation upon the peculiar
forlornness of his young ward, thrown off
by every relative; and with impressive elo-
quence censured the inhumanity of those
who could neglect or could treat her with
nnkindness : and upon these subjects Falk-
land expatiated earnestly, for some mo-
ments, since he wished to impress them
upon the mind of Bouverie, who being
much at Lord De Moreland's, he thought
it no unsound policy to make a friend of
for poor Adelaide.

From the theme now given to their con-
versation, it naturally reverted to Miss Old-
worth's correspondence with Lady Ley burn.
Falkland, for her uncle's sake, forbore to be-
tray his suspicions of Miss Alicia's rectitude

125

in the business, but he painfully cherished
them ; and from Bouverie he now learned
" that Lady Leyburn and Lord Roscoville
had been at De Moreland Castle for two
days, at the period Miss Old worth stated,
and where they separated, her ladyship to
return to Roscoville Abbey, and his lord-
ship to proceed to the continent, where he
was supposed to have some attraction."

"Lord Roscoville at the castle!'' ex-
claimed Falkland, in dismay, <( and not
visit the orphan of his amiable brother !— 1
In my neighbourhood, and not even send
for me to answer, in any part, those letters
I have addressed to his lordship and his
father in behalf of my ward ! — But, surely,
it was — yes, it was at that very time a
stranger of striking appearance called and
refused to leave his address, as I was, un-
fortunately, not at Seaview. Surely this
must have been the uncle of my Adelaide."

" I doubt not that it was," said Bouve-
rie; " since it would have been strange had
lie made no effort to see her, since it was to
visit his father's and his brother's tomb that
lie came hither: and Leyburn told me he

m

was dreadfully affected by his melancholy
visit to the remains of those dear rela-
tives."

Adelaide again entreated leave to go to
Norah,and Falkland, knowing how sensi-
bly the mention of her parents ever affected
her, instantly permitted her to go ; and his
conversation relative to the De Moreland
family terminated for the present with Bou-
verie's information — " that Lady Leyburn
had accompanied her brother into Kent to
prevent his introduction to his niece ; and,
like a wary sentinel, she had not left her
post until after the departure of Lord Ros-
coville from Seaview.',

Two whole days succeeded ere Falk-
land would permit Bouverie to return to
school ; and during this period every pre-
dilection of Falkland's in favour of that
engaging youth hourly augmented; whilst
Adelaide and he became strong allies,
playing their pranks, taking walks, and
gardening together; and when Bouverie
departed from the house of her guardian,
in his breast was fixed a firm resolution to
love Adelaide, all his days, as a tender

127 -

elder brother — to be watchful of her inter-
est— and to fix a wary eye upon all whom
he believed wished to injure her.

Four years now rolled on without any
incident occurring worthy a place in our
present records, Falkland hearing nothing
from any of the family of his beloved
ward ; and as it had been the hapless
Ellen's desire, that no hostile measures
should be resorted to for the possession of
her child's paternal inheritance, he forbore
to apply for legal redress; sti!l hoping,
whenever Lord Roscoville returned from
the continent, that he at least would
awaken to a sense of justice.

And during this period Bouverie's in-
timacy with Falkland seemed to increase
with the progress of time; since, inde-
pendent of the allurements he found in
Falkland's conversation, Bouverie aptly
discovered him to be more deeply versed
in classic lore than even Doctor Birch;
and often, in Montagu's search for know-
ledge, he applied to Mr. Falkland for that
information in which he found his precep-
tors failed ; information which the amiable
Falkland gladly imparted to him, for he

128

hoped his uncommon thirst for knowledge
would prove an antidote to the poisons
which, in spite of himself, he sipped of,
each vacation since his mother's death, in
his visits at Lord De Moreland's, where
the dissipated Lady Ley burn presided as
mistress of the gayest revels.

At length, at the close of these four
years, just as Bouverie had attained the
age of seventeen, it was decreed by Lady
Leyburn that her son and grandfather's
ward should quit school for college, which
Bouverie had long been ready for, but
who had been compelled to wait for his
lordship, who, although one year his se-
nior in age, was many his junior in every
branch of knowledge.

Falkland, fraternally attached to Bou-
verie, felt happy for his sake that he was
at length permitted to improve his talents
at the university ; but for his own felt sor-
row at being deprived of the occasional
society of so engaging a companion; and
a few days prior to his intended departure
for Cambridge, Falkland invited him, with
Doctor Birch's family, and Mellifonr, to
dinner.

.129

From the hour of Mellifont's promised
reformation he had most conscientiously
adhered to it, growing each clay in grace
as in strength and stature, whilst his at-
tachment to Bouverie became as conspU
cuous as his former animosity had been
evident; and upon the arrival of the man-
date for Bouverie's quitting school the
grief of Mellifont knew no boundary, and
no longer would permit him to keep a
secret which Bouverie had enjoined him
to; and now it was known to all that for
the last four years the purse of Bouverie
had been lightened every quarter of five
pounds, which he had placed in the Dover
bank for the use of Mellifont, when the
time should arrive for his quitting school.

The insinuation which Miss Alicia had
failed not to throw out to her friend Miss
Patty Birch of Falkland's meditated union
with his ward, had changed that young
lady's speculating kindness to the poor un-
conscious Adelaide into hatred; nor could
Miss Oldworth more strongly pant for her
removal, in the visionary hope of her own
charms then finding effect in Falkland's
captivation, than the love-stricken Patty

g 5

130

did ; whose mamma, in all her daughter's
secrets and wishes, arrived at Falkland's
house to dinner, fully instructed to second
all Miss Alicia's efforts for the prompt
despatch of Adelaide to school.

In compliment to Bouverie, who now
always called her his sceurette, Adelaide
was permitted by her guardian to dine
with the party; and shortly after the com-
xnencement of the desert, from some turn
in the conversation, Doctor Birch vehe-
mently uttered a strong invective against
match- makers.

11 Nay, dear Sir! do not reprobate all,"
said Bouverie, smiling, " for I am medi-
tating to become one myself; and have
just been projecting an union between the
youngest female present and a hopeful
youth of her own name."

Falkland started, and blushed with joy
at a cherished hope awakening to reality.
His emotion was observed by the ladies
present, who promptly placed it to jealous
apprehensions; and the green-eyed mon-
ster, active in their own bosoms, now
panted for the moment to seek revenge.

" Mr. Falkland will smile at my specu*

131

lating arrangements/* continued Bouverie;
" but it is more than a year since I pre-
destined his ward for my brother, the most
heavenly boy that nature ever formed j
who, when we calamitously lost our angci
mother, three years since, went to reside
with his guardians, my maternal uncle and
paternal aunt, Lord and Lady Clyde, who
having no children spared to them of their
own, consider him as their son, and breed
him up under their own roof with the most
scrupulous care of his morals. He is four
years my junior, and he is so beautiful in
form, and so celestial in mind, that I can-
not doubt Adelaide was created as the
counterpart of my clear Theodore. In-
deed I have long since informed my aunt
I had found a female for her male saint."

Falkland smiled; but his heart heaved
a sigh of disappointed hope. Adelaide
blushed, until tears were ready to bedew
the roses on her glowing cheeks; and Miss
Alicia, with a sarcastic grin, exclaimed —

m If you expect to find a saint in Miss
Bouverie for your brother, Sir, you must
prevail on Mr. Falkland to send her to a

152

boarding-school, to try and have her mo-
delled into one."

". Indeed, Mr. Falkland/' said Mrs. Birch,
with a most amiably conciliating smile,
u it is full time now for Miss Bouverie's
education to commence. You will, I hope,
excuse the liberty I take in giving my
opinion unsolicited ; but from Dr. Birch's
situation I must know the consequence of
leaving children too long in ignorance."

" That consequence, my dear Madam,"
replied Falkland, with an expressive smile
at Dr. Birch, " I have happily avoided
with my young ward."

" She can read, to be sure," exclaimed
Miss Alicia, spitefully, " and it. would be
a shame for a girl eight years and — I
mean going on nine years old, if she could
•not 5 but she has not learned to dance, or
to play the music."

" These are sad charges exhibited
against me," said Falkland, smiling; " yet
I plead not guilty, and can call a most
potent witness in my behalf. Doctor Birch

being sworn, deposeth "

• "Deposeth," said the Doctor, smiling

133

in his turn, " that not a lady in company
can puzzle the little ignoramus in astro-
nomy and geography — that she is a better
mathematician than any one of them — that
she is astonishingly well versed in sacred
writings and ancient history — that she
can not only read Italian and French
correctly, but can translate them both
very prettily — and that she understands
Latin as perfectly as any boy in my school
of eight years, and — / mean, going on nine
years old"

" But what is the use of Latin, Mr. Falk-
land?" exclaimed Miss Birch, the first of
the ladies who recovered from the stun-
ning force of amazement inspired by the
acquirements of the supposed ignoramus ;
who had glided out of the room the mo-
ment Doctor Birch began to betray her
information. " What is the use of Latin,
Sir, but to make women pedantic I"

" Not Miss Bouverie, you perceive, my
love," returned her father, archly; " for
you see Miss Old worth did not even sus-
pect she knew more than simply how to
read her proper."

" Nor I either, much as I have been

154

with the dear soul/' exclaimed Bouvcrie,
his eyes irradiated, and his whole coun-
tenance illumined with pleased applause:
" and often, when I have read children's
amusing books to her, believing they were
only such as her tender years could com-
prehend, she has expressed her gratitude
with as much humility as if her acquaint-
ance with letters reached no further, and
has suffered me to explain French and Latin
quotations with many classical allusions,
as if she understood not one word of
them."

Some conversation now ensued relative
to Falkland's intentions respecting the ac-
complishments of Adelaide; when it was
found she had already commenced her
acquirement of drawing, as well as the
theory of music, from the instructions of
her guardian.

The fair ladies, foiled in their attempt
to get the impeding Adelaide packed off
to school, soon after adjourned in great
chagrin to the drawing-room, to talk over
their conviction that Falkland was cer-
tainly educating this chit to be a wife
suited to his great scJiolarship, and their

135

consolation in the disappointment which
obviously awaited his romantic if not mer-
cenary scheme by the girl's premature
death ; c< since the slightness of her form
and transparency of complexion announced
incontrovertibly she was of a consump-
tive habit; and such application to study,
and early rising to attain such heaps of
knowledge, even before Miss Alicia was
up in a morning, must accelerate her
doom."

At length the gentlemen attended their
summon to tea, when, as Bouverie knew
Adelaide took that beverage in her nur-
sery, since Miss Alicia could never agree
with her relative to the time she spent in
drinking it, felt no surprise at the absence
of his sceurctte ; but when some time
elapsed after the tea equipage was remov-
ed without^ her appearance, he glided out
of the room in quest of her, thinking the
party wanted her interesting and playful
iiaiveti to enliven it.

Concluding she was in her own apart-
ments, Bouverie made his well-known way
to them ; and on approaching her sitting*

136

room he was surprised to hear Dennis's
voice there, loudly exclaiming in a tone
of great agitation —

i<r Och, then, the d — 1 burn the hearts
that would have the cruelty to be making
you shed one scalding tear, darlingt of
heaven-born innocents I"

Bouverie, alarmed, quickened his pace;
and concluding where Dennis was he
might enter, he promptly beheld Adelaide
with her face hid on the bosom of her
nurse, sobbing convulsively, while tears
ran down the cheeks of the evidently agi«-
tated nurse; and Dennis standing by
them with a glass of water in his hand, his
countenance pourtraying a bosom glow-
ing with sympath}'.

Bouverie, in an agony of alarm, enquired
what caused the distress he witnessed ;
when Adelaide, raising her face from the
maternal bosom of her tender nurse, she
endeavoured to answer him, but a new
rushing tide of anguished sobs destroyed
her power of utterance; and Dennis mo-
tioning for Bouverie to adjourn with him
to another room, the feeling-hearted Hi-

137

bernian there hastened to recount the
cause of the " grief that was choaking the
darlingt"

" Och, Master Bouverie !" he exclaimed,
(*Ws cruelty that has murdered the darlingt
with a big shock of horror. From the
height of my wooden supporter, 'twas a
Avay the jewel had, and the saint of a mo-
ther that bore her had it before her, to be
feeding every thing that was helpless, and
seemed to want her care or pity; so
many's the time she would be cribbing
from her own meals to share with the
birds in the air, and, for that matter, with
every creeping thing that flies to her far
kindness; and so being mighty fond of
feeding the poultry, his honour never
thwarting her in any thing, had a corn-
bin of her own, out of which she would be
giving little treats every day to the kins
and their brood, when one Solomon of a
chick, from the minute ever it broke i£s
shell, had the sense to love the darlingt
for all the world like a Christian, making"
such a chirping and hullabaloo whenever
she appeared ; and at last got so tamed by
his attachment to her, he would peck out

138

of her hand, and even take the grain from
between her coral lips ; and so the tender-
hearted jewel obtained his honour's com-
mand but yesterday her pet chick should
never be kilt; o with that, what does
that spiteful ould carcass Mother Alice do
but orders it to be murdered for dinner
to-day, since the luckless chick, from the
dear babe's fondness for it, being the best
fed was the plumpest in the Aw-yard.

'* The darllngt being out all the morn-
ing, on the beautiful little nag his honour
lias got for her, did not visit the hin-ystrd
until after dinner, when the murder came
out; and what has added to the darlingt
dismay and grief is, the horror of thinking
that, unconsciously, she ate some of her
gentle, fond favourite. So myself fears,
Master Bouverie, she will be murdered
too by that Turk-hearted sinner Alicia's
massacre, unless his honour can pacify her
with a little physic, that will send her to
sleep."

•I I'll summon Mr. Falkland instantly
to her,,, said Bouverie, overpowered by-
sympathy for Adelaide ; but as he broke
from his conference with Dennis to de-

139

scend to the drawing-room, he could not
pass the sobbing child without catching
her hand, and pressing it with tender, af-
fectionate commiseration.

" My own sweet, beloved Adelaide!"
lie said, " shall I kill that monster
Alice ?"

" No," faulteringly sobbed out Ade-
laide; " but teach her more humanity if
you can, dear Montagu* "

The highly incensed and sympathising
Falkland said all that the compassion of
his nature and the tender affection he
bore her could inspire to give consola-
lation to the sorrow of Adelaide; but the
agony her mind experienced at the horror
of bavin o- eaten of her favourite could
riot be lured to composure, and Falkland
became terrorized at the probability of
this agitation of mind bringing on some
serious indisposition ; and judging it ex-
pedient to give her a powerful soporific to
lull her mental anguish, he was proceed-
ing to order it for her, when Doctor Birch,
informed by Bouverie of what had hap-
pened, presented himself in the nursery,

140

provided with a more efficacious opiate
than any the materia medica could afford,
in incontrovertible proof to Adelaide, as
helper of the chickens, that she had not
eaten of her favourite ; for beinsr the
finest, it was all despatched before she got
any.

Adelaide felt thorough conviction, from
the clear statement of Doctor Birch, that
she had escaped a horror torturing to her
humanity, and that proved a cordial con-
solation : but yet her feeling heart was so
distressed at having beheld her attached
fondling cut up and devoured by others,
that Falkland still thought a soporific ne-
cessary, and administered it accordingly.

Bouverie was at the house of Falkland
ere breakfast the succeeding morning to
inquire for Adelaide, whose night had
been untranquil, and her anxious guar-
dian and nurse had sat up by her pillow;
but the morning had found her much bet-
ter than Falkland's alarmed apprehensions
had augured.

" The shock she sustained was a rude
one," said Falkland, " and more thart

141

such a gentle nature could sustain without
visible effect. The susceptibility of her
feeling heart is so exquisite, that "

" The man who becomes her husband,"'
said Bouverie, eagerly finishing Falkland's
intended observation for him, " will have
a fearful task to sustain, since he must
hush every boisterous feeling in his mind,
must suffer nothing but gentle tenderness
congenial to her own to approach her;
since one harsh word, one unkind look,
would rend the heart of Adelaide : and,
heavenly powers ! who could be human,
and wilfully wound the heart of Ade-
laide!"

The heart of Falkland thrilled with a la-
tent hope once more, and the sympathetic
smile that played round his mouth he gift-
ed with other meaning, as with an arch look
he replied —

" I trust the husband of Adelaide may
not have so formidable a task as you, in
fraternal anxiety, apprehend for him. The
almost yet infantile years of my ward sane"
tion the tenderness of her present feelings,
but her understanding promises fair to be
as strong as the susceptibilities of her mind

142

tiow are tremblingly feminine; that, with
the callous touches of heart-hardening
time, as he leads her on in intercourse
with the world, I trust will cover with the
graceful shield of becoming fortitude this
present weakness of her tender years, long
ere her hour for Hymeneal honours can
commence."

" Oh !" exclaimed Bouverie with energy,
" but let not that shield be of too solid a
texture : let us see the feminine heart
beneath it. Let us trace in Adelaide the
wife the fascinating susceptibilities which
endeared the infant Adelaide to us."

Bouverie had a keepsake to give his be-
loved sceurette, which he now obtained her
guardian's permission to present to her,
and be would not depart without seeing
her. Shortly she appeared in the study of
Falkland, eager to express her gratitude
for his sacrifice of rest for her, when Bou-
verie saw by the flown roses of her cheeks,
the dejection of her aspect, and the lan-
guor of her eyes, that sorrow in her mind
was not the cloud that rapidly dispersed
before the sunbeams of childish versatility.

Bouverie mentioning " that Lady Ley-

143

burn's carriage had arrived unexpectedly,
the preceding night, to take her son and
him to Roscoville to spend a few days ere
they proceeded to Cambridge, and there-
fore they were t-o leave school that very
morning," Adelaide instantly burst into
tears.

" Oh 1" she sobbed, si and must I lose a
favourite every day ?"

Bouverie caught her in his arms, and
tenderly soothed her sorrow for his depar-
ture by assurances they would soon meet
again, for during every vacation he would
take a trip to Seaview, to see her and his
other friends; and as time pressed for his
adieu, he hastened to present her with a
beautiful gold pencil, bearing an elegant
seal with " Adelaide" engraved upon it.

With pleased emotion our young heroine
blushed as she received it, and timidly she
said-—" This pencil will trace the kindness
of your gift on my heart's faithful memory,
Montagu, and the first impression c Ade-
laide* makes is on mv gratitude."

Falkland and Bouverie exchanged a
glance of surprise and admiration at a be-
ing so young receiving a gift with a grace

144

in acknowledgment that maturer years need
not have blushed at ; and shortly after, with
the reluctance of a fond brother to part
from a favourite sister, Bouverie tenderly
embraced the young Adelaide, and press-
ing the hand of Falkland in grateful friend-
ship to his heart, he precipitately retreated,
to quit in all the innocence of unsophisti-
cated youth the school of Doctor Birch, to
encounter the temptations of life in the first
guidance of himself in a college, with a
dissipated companion and counsellor in
Lord Leyburn.

145

CHAPTER IX.

In about a year after Montagu Bouverie
had quitted school for college, Falkland,
whose practice every clay extended, was
sent for express to the house of a Mr.
Mordaunt, about two miles from Seaview.

Falkland made no inquiry of who in Mr.
Mordaunt's family he was sent for to, but,
from the foam the courier's steed was in,
concluding the person's life in danger,
ordered his own fleetest horse, and at full
speed obeyed the summons.

Report had instructed him to know this
Mr. Mordaunt was an immensely rich old
bachelor, so morose and unsocial in his
temper he held no intercourse with any of
his neighbours, whom, one after another, he
had forbidden his house ; while to the softer
sex he was peculiarly uncourteous, not al-
lowing one, on any pretence, to enter his
dwelling, except a few female domestics,
who, on the peril of instant dismission, had
orders to scud from his view at the sound

VOL. I. H

146

of his approach, which was always an-
nounced hy a tumult of accompanying
dogs, the beings on whom his affections
seemed now to rest, of whom he had great
numbers lodged not only in superb ken-
nels, but in the state apartments of his
noble mansion ; and the cause assigned for
this disrelish to the human race was his be-
ing deceived in friendship and in love.

On Falkland's arrival at Mordaunt Pri-
ory he was promptly ushered into a spaci-
ous chamber, where an old man, of a stern,
repellent aspect, was seated by a scarlet vel-
vet bed richly laced with gold, and who,
instantly as the door was opened, peevishly
exclaimed —

" Zounds ! won't this poticary come,
either ?"

"This is Doctor Falkland, Sir/' the
conducting servant said; and promptly re-
tired, as if happy to effect his escape.

'.* No, no, young man, Sir, or my Lord,
whichever you may be,'* exclaimed Mr.
Mordaunt, knitting his brow, as from head
to foot he surveyed Falkland, u this won't
take. I see through it. You are some
young fellow of fashion come to hoax the

147

misanthrope. Falkland, I perceive, was
too great a man to come."

"Sir," returned Falkland, advancing,
11 a man ought to relinquish business ere
he affects to be too great for it. My name
is Falkland, and I was summoned hither, I
do suppose, to exercise the profession of
an apothecary."

" A d — ned deal too courtly looking
for that, however ; but as you speak plain
sense," returned Mordaunt, Cf perhaps you
are not such a cursed puppy as to think it
beneath your dignity to set or amputate
the leg of an honest, faithful Newfound-
land dog, whom you hear moaning on this
bed, who saved my life some time since,
and whose life I will have now saved in
return, if I can."

u Sir," replied Falkland, approaching the
bed, " I cannot consider it beneath the dig-
nity of man to alleviate the sufferings of any
being ; but dogs are the common friends of
man, and yours has proved it so."

" Then you will undertake the case ?"

* Most certainly/'

" Then blessings on thee I" exclaimed

h2

148

the old man, grasping Falkland's hand
with energy ; " I'll send my people in to
assist you, but I cannot be present at the
operation."

It proved a compound fracture of a
most severe nature, but Falkland quickly
reduced it ; and from the moment he
touched the animal's leg he ceased to
howl, and, the operation ended, he licked
the gentle operator's hand, as it seemed to
express his gratitude.

The operation ended, and the dog laid
in comfort on the velvet bed, all was
promptly announced by the head groom
to Mr. Mordaunt, with high eulogiums on
Diver's fortitude, and the Doctor's tender-
ness and great ingenuity in forming a
cradle for the "poor mortal's leg" with
various precautions for saving it from the
danger of movement.

Mr. Mordaunt was in an ecstasy at this
account ; and as the necessary infliction of
pain was over, he returned to Diver's state
chamber to congratulate him, and to speak
his acknowledgments to his surgeon.

Every direction being given for the food

149

and treatment of Diver, Falkland at length
made a departing bow,, when Mr. Mordaunt
attempted to put a fee into his hand.

" Excuse me, Sir," said Falkland, smiling
as he recoiled ; " the fee of the brute crea-
tion to mankind is their subordination to
us. Should I ever be menaced with a
watery grave and Diver near, I have no-
doubt but he will perform his duty without
a view to recompence. Farewell, Sir, and
rely on my visiting my patient in the morn-
ing,"

The manner of Falkland, as he declined
the fee, sent it instantly back to the pocket
of Mr. Mordaunt; but the hand of the
misanthrope was as instantly clasped in
Falkland's, with a cordial pressure.

Falkland, true to his promise, found
Diver the following day as well as could
be expected, who, on beholding him, wag-
ged his tail, and again licked his hand the
moment he found an opportunity of effect-
ing that token of his gratitude ; and Falk-
land on his return home that day found a
pipe of choice Madeira, with Diver's re-
spects, awaiting him ; and on the day this
favourite animal sallied forth again as the

Io0

walking companion of his master the side-
board of Falkland was ornamented by se-
veral pieces of superb plate, the " tribute
of Diver's gratitude to humanity," as the
engraving on each declared ; and every
week the rarest viands came, in their re-
spective seasons, from Mordaunt Priory,
to grace the table of Falkland, whom
Mordaunt vowed " should never repent
his kindness to a dumb animal; while the
puppy who had been dosing his family for
twenty years, and lived by their ills — he
who found his dignity so wounded on be-
ing sent for to poor Diver that he rushed
out of the house as if he had killed a pa-
tient'prematurely — he should find the mas-
ter of Diver knew bow to reward the bene-
volent, and how to punish the inhuman. "

But Diver's presents were not the only
Falkland was in the habit of receiving:
liis fame extending, his practice rapidly
increased far bevond even what Oldworth's
had ever been; and from his liberality in
pecuniary transactions adding to the gra-
titude of those he had saved from impend-
ing dissolution, with the munificence of
those who, fearing death, wished by anti-

151

cipated reward to make the Doctor doubly
diligent in saving them from the grasp of
the ruthless leveller when he came to
threaten them, Falkland was overpowered
with presents from every quarter ; and
those for his table, from their superfluity,
gave to his humanity the gratification of
feeding the sick, who had no means to pur-
chase delicacies.

It happened that, soon after the cure of
Diver was effected, Falkland permitted his
ward to form one in a gipsy feast, given by
Mrs. Birch to her younger children upon
the birthday of the youngest, a girl of
six years old ; upon which occasion they
were to dine in a rustic cottage in the park
of Mr. Mordaunt, the most beautiful one.
in even that romantically diversified part
of Kent ; and as it was a revel in the pure
atmosphere of open air, and the nursery
attendants to take care of the children,
Falkland objected not to his eicve forming
one of the happy group.

Doctor Birch convened a requisition of
donkeys to convey the party, with their
provisions, to the park of Mordaunt Pri-
ory, where the sportive children, enchanted

152

with the scene, roved and scampered in
every direction, finding all around them
gifted with the charms the magic of their
own happy season of life imparted ; and at
length the nurses thinking it time for din-
ing drew off to the cottage to prepare the
repast, desiring their charge to remain on
a knoll in their view until all was ready.

" I ought to be a queen," said Miss Eliza
Birch, the prettiest of the family, and, in
consequence, the spoiled idol of her mo«
ther ; " and you ought all to be my maids
of honour and my pages, and I ought to
hold my court here, while my slaves ar§
preparing my grand banquet."

" Elizabeth cannot reign while her sister
Mary lives to claim her right of seniority,"
said Adelaide, not much fascinated with
the airs of this young arrogant.

" Oh ! but she will, by right of always
having her own way," returned Mary Birch.
"Why, she'll beat, and bite, and scratch
us all, if we don't give up to her in every
thing. She must be queen, since she say 3
so."

" Queen of what, then, is she to be ?-^
Of the gipsies, I suppose*" cried Lydia,

153

the beauty and pet of the Woodehouse fa-
mily.

" Of the Amazons I rather think, since
she can fight her own battles so victori-
ously/1 said Adelaide, laughing ; c< and
from talking of her slaves has proved she
is not a British queen. However, as her
mighty majesty has attendants enough
without me, 111 pay my homage to her I
think the sovereign of this day. Come,
little Charlotte, you shall be the infant
princess whose name you bear; and if any
one offers hostility to you, I'll be the Bri-
tish lion, and gobble them up for you."

Mr. Mordaunt, who had been strolling in
his park, and had seen from a distance a
flight of white frocks, which he conceived
to be his swans strayed from the lake, hur-
ried round in pursuit of them, and entered
the copse which backed the knoll, when the
sound of young voices informed him of his
error; and he was making his way back
again from the obnoxious view of the hu-
man species, when, feeling some gravel hi
his shoe, he stopped to take it thence, by
which means he heard Miss Eliza's propo-
sition and the dialogue that ensued, since

a5

154

the children all, in wild spirits, gave the
highest possible pitch to their tones.

The exquisite sweetness of the voice of
her who betrayed more than common in-
formation for so juvenile a speaker, seemed
to fascinate Mr. Mordaunt, and led him
from his ambush to ascertain if it was a
human child whose tones sounded in such
soft melody.

The moment Mr. Morclaunt's form
emerging from the wood appeared to the
children, they all, but Adelaide and the
little Charlotte, flew off towards the nurses
on the full expanded wings of terror,
screaming, and crying out—

" Tis he !— 'tis he !— Old Mordaunt !— -
He'll kill us ! — kill us for dog's meat !"

Adelaide, with Charlotte by the hand,
was standing with her back towards Mr.
Mordaunt when he first appeared, so that
she did not immediately observe him : and
scarcely ever mixing with the children of
the neighbourhood, she knew not he was
the nursery bugbear that kept each froward
child in order; and feeling shocked at the
rudeness of her companions in thus treat-
ing the gentleman in whose park they

155

were amusing themselves, firmly stood her
ground, and deeply blushing as she did so,
gracefully courtesied to him.

" What were those squalling brats afraid
of ?" demanded Mordaunt, in a tone and
with a brow half relaxing from habitual
sternness, yet mortified at the infant ter-
rors his presence had excited, though more
than half appeased by the courteous man-
ner of the lovely child who did not shun
him.

" Indeed I know not what they could
have feared, Sir," answered Adelaide; " for
if there could be reason to fear your dis-
pleasure at being found in your park, Sir, I
am quite sure my guardian would not have
suffered me to come here."

" You speak like a properly brought up
child, and you look like a very good one,"
returned Mr. Mordaunt, pleased for the
first time since the desertion of his in-
tended bride with the aspect of a female.
u And pray who is your guardian, of whose
attention to propriety you give so favour-
able a report ?"

" Mr. Falkland, Sir."

" Falkland ! Aye, I might have conjee-

156

tured it to be so, and that no female could
have had a hand in forming you as you ap-
pear; but good day — good day, child :" and
Mordaunt now hurried away muttering —

" A very pretty, modest girl that ; no-
thing pert, no, nothing; but that is all
because Falkland had the rearing of her."

" In about a week after this gipsy part}',
as Falkland, accompanied by Adelaide, was
riding out one morning on a round of visits
to patients in the direction of Mordaunt
Priory, he met a groom of Mr. Mordaunt's
on his way to summon him to this misan-
thrope.

Falkland conceiving from what the ser-
vant said that Mr. Mordaunt must be in his
chamber, unhesitatingly permitted Adelaide
to accompany him to the Priory, where, not
alighting, she remained in charge of the
groom ; but to Falkland's surprise he found
the eccentric master of the mansion in his
Tneakfast parlour, who apprehended an at-
tack of the gout, which Falkland ordered
him by no means to check; and after giv-
ing the rueful expectant of a painful visit-
ant some further advice, he was preparing
to depart, when suddenly Mr. Mordaunt,

151

darting by him, flung open a casement, and
vehemently exclaimed —

" You cursed fool! do you think such
a babe as that can hold an umbrella and ma-
nage a horse too ? Give her to me out of
the rain, you savage !" and, to the amaze-
ment of her guardian, Adelaide was lifted
in at the casement, from a sudden summer
shower, by Morclaunt himself.

" Those blockheads/' said Mordaunt,.
returning to his seat, and placing his foot
carefully upon it's resting place, " have no-
discrimination : they can see no difference
between a female serpent and a female che-
rub. And now, Falkland, my famous fel-
low, do tell me what is your method for

keeping this d 1 of a torment out of

the stomach, where I thought it was tra-
velling post to when I sent for you ?*'

" Why, in the first place, you must steer
clear of open windows when you expect it,
although it should be to let cherubim and
seraphim fly into you," replied Falkland;
who was proceeding to give his serious ad-
vice, when Mordaunt again broke from his
seat, and impetuously rang the bell ; then

158

returned, as before, to carefully nurse his
foot ; and, upon a servant appearing, shout-
ed out angrily —

" What is that beldam in the house-
keeper's room about? Does not the rat-
tlesnake know there's a child in the house,
that she sends in no cake or sugar-plums ?"

" I thank you, my good Sir," said Falk-
land, "for your intended kindness; but my
young ward, having trained her predilec-
tions in food to my wishes, is not fond of
sweet things."

" Well then, she shall have something
from the garden. What shall the gar-
dener send you in, child? What do you
like best ?"

"Flowers, Sir," replied Adelaide, softly,
and blushing to the eyes.

" What, you ninny ! better than fruit ?"

" A great deal, Sir."

" That is innocence, guided by temper-
ance, indeed. Why, child, you will never
have the gout. Tell the gardener to send
in some peaches and a small, sweet nose-
gay, but without any of his plaguy thorns
to hurt the child ; and order him, also, to

159

send down a basket of the best flowers
every day to Mr. Falkland's, for his little
ward."

Adelaide's grateful rapture was pour-
trayed on her countenance, but with it
was combined emotion that puzzled Falk-
land to define. Eagerly she whispered hirri
to thank Mr. Mordaunt for her ; and when
the fruit and flowers were brought in, while
Adelaide eat a peach Mordaunt carefully
examined the bouquet, to be assured it wai
devoid of thorns.

The shower having totally subsided,
leaving no apprehension from appearances
of a successor, Falkland and his ward took
leave of Mr. Mordaunt, who desired " that
dear child might never again be left outside
his door, since she should always find a wel-
come within it."

At length, as they pursued their ride,
coming to the verge of a long hill, Falk-
land slackened his pace to a sober walk,
which he always did when Adelaide was
his companion; and as they now began to
descend the declivity, he laid his hand upon
the pommel of. her saddle, and anxiously
reading her countenance as he spoke —

" Adelaide, my sweet child If* he said1,
gt you are so ingenuous in all your words
and actions, that I am seldom at a loss to
account for any of them ; but your conduct
relative to flowers, I own, has puzzled me."

Adelaide's face became tinted with one
of her brightest blushes ; and violent emo-
tion, agitating her frame, was visible to her
observant guardian, who continued —

" Relative to no other thing have I dis-
covered in you a system of inconsistency :
it seems a darling passion of your heart to
acquire them. You toil in your own little
garden to rear them ; you overcome the
natural timidity of your nature to solicit for
them, where I believe you would sooner
die than assume courage to ask any other
favour ; yet as fast as they grow in your
own ground you crop them ; the moment
you obtain them from others you disregard
them, since never do you effect their pre-
servation, for not one room in my house,
not even your nursery, is ever decorated
by a flower of yours ; never do I recollect
having seen in water one belonging to you."

<( Oh! my dear, dear fostering parent!"
exclaimed Adelaide, melting into tears,

l6'l

" you will not chicle me for the only secret
I ever kept from you : you will not forbid
my heart's prized pleasure if I tell you all ?
— My flowers go, fresh as I get them, to— *-
to strew my mother's grave."

" Chicle you ! Deprive your heart of its
filial gratification ! No, sweet child of ten-
derly cherished duty and affection, no !"
exclaimed Falkland, sensibly affected.—
" But tell me, my own Adelaide, how has
this sweet incense of your affectionate
heart been effected? How did you pro-
cure permission to enter the castle clois-
ter ?"

" It is all done by stealth, papa; and
that is the cause I kept it secret from you,
fearing you would disapprove. It is a long,
a very long time since I heard nurse and
Dennis lament they could gain no admis-
sion into the castle cloister to weed their
dear mistress's grave, and to strew it with
fresh flowers daily ; and then they talked,
papa, of how the village girls in Ireland
strewed the graves of those they loved ;
and so I longed to do so too, for well I
loved mamma. All this I cherished in the
memory of my heart, for there, when 1

162

thought of it, I found the recollection al-
ways lay ; and often when I walked the
pasture ground with nurse and Dennis
(which is their favourite walk, because a
wall only divides them from their loved
mistress's grave,) how 1 have envied the
birds, and wished for wings too, that I
might fly over the barrier with a rose, or a
carnation, or a sprig of myrtle in my bill,
to lay on the turf that covered my own
mamma : and I have thought I need not
be afraid of sportsmen's guns while so em-
ployed, for that spirits from heaven would
turn each shot into dew-drops to refresh
the flowers which a child toiled to lay on
the grave of a pareut.

" But at last, papa, one evening as we
walked, Dennis discovered a chasm in the
wall, hid from immediate observation by a
screen of ivy; and through this chink could
plainly be seen the little tablet, as mamma
ordered it for herself, with — with simply,
' Poor Ellen* on it ; so — so — so, papa,
Den — Dennis, Sir, showed this to nurse,
and sadly, bitterly they wept, and so did
I, for they showed it to me; and having
once seen the grave, how I longed to get

163

to it, to kiss and kiss poor Ellen on the
tablet! You thought I was sick then, my
own, kind guardian ; but other things can
destroy one's appetite, one's bloom, and
rest.

" But at last I contrived to speak to
little Mary Ashford, quite alone, and pro-
mised her my best doll if she would look
under all the ivy within her reach on the
wall of the pasture ground to discover a
chink wide enough to admit me : and she
found one, Sir, and quite low down ; and
then I watched so anxiously an opportu-
nity to steal from you and nurse, but I
could not effect my purpose until you
went to Major Walsingham, at Winchelsea,
and then I was so frightened ! Oh ! how I
was frightened at stealing out to do any
thing unknown to you and nurse ! and so
I never, never dared to venture asrain ; but
little Mary — who was my companion that
day, and whom I taught not to feel fear
at my gentle mother's grave, and showed
how to put the loose stones in and out of
the hole to prevent dogs or pigs from get-
ting, in to do mischief — Mary, Sir, has since

164

kept the grave wed, and daily strews my
flowers there. I told her I would teach
her to read and work if she would do this,
and tell no one but her mother. Mary
loved -to learn, and so she agreed; and so
that is the reason, papa, she comes every
day to me to teach her, and that I am so
anxious not to disappoint her, since she
pays me for her schooling."

Falkland, affected by her little narrative,
and the tones in which she uttered all,
snatched her hand, and pressed it with the
fervor of paternal sympathy, as he feelingly
exclaimed —

i( Sweet, affectionate Adelaide ! how each
hour you rise in my estimation ! How each
day, each moment, my vain wishes gather
strength that I was indeed your papa — that
you were my own daughter, sweet child of
excellence !"

Upon the susceptible Adelaide this effu*
sion of her guardian's approbation had its
agitating influence, and several minutes
elapsed ere she found sufficient composure
to proceed.

" But, my tender, fostering parent !" she

165

at length feelingly articulated, " I must
not omit to tell you another alarm I sus-
tained the sadly happy day I ventured into
the castle cloister. Sir, after I had kissed
and kissed mamma's sweet name upon the
marble, and wept for her, until the love I
bore my father, too, led me to sit down on
the foot of mamma's lone resting place to
weep for both the treasures I had lost ; and
as I did so my face was turned towards that
massy door which shut out poor Ellen from
her husband's side; and at length, to my
utter dismay, the doors lowly unclosed, a
very tall man, with a handkerchief to his
eyes, came forth ; when the moment I be-
held him I flew from my station, and hid
behind the tablet; but Mary (who was bu-
sily employed, weeding, did not perceive
him as soon as I did) the instant she saw
him shrieked, believing, I think, papa, he
was a spirit.

" Instantly the gentleman angrily de-
manded, ' why she dared intrude upon his
sacred sorrows, and what she was doing
there?'

" Poor Mary, only comprehending his

16ft

latter question, answered, ' Weeding Ma-
dam Bouverie's grave, and strewing it with
posies.'

" Upon his demanding by whose orders
she did so ? I thought, as I had led little
Mary into this fault, if it was one, I ought
to answer for the consequence myself; so I
emerged from my sad, sad screen, and said,
as well as my stifled sobs would let me—
1 1 hoped he would not be angry with
Mary, for mine was the transgression ; and
if he had a dead mamma he could feel for
me, and not be angry with a little girl for
strewing flowers upon her mother's grave.'

" As I spoke, papa, he started, and gave
me such a piteous look, he made my tears
all gush out again ; when opening his arms,
he said something I did not quite compre-
hend, but it was like an afflicting remem-
brance that I had awakened; and yet he
called me to him.

" But in this moment a lady rushed
into the cloister through a door from the
castle, calling out, Oh ! so harshly !

<i( Brother, brother, why will you in-
dulge in this romantic weakness ?*

167

*f l Hide, children, hide !' exclaimed the
gentleman. g Await me here, and I will
return in a few moments.'

" So then, Sir, he hastily left the clois-
ter, and so did Mary and ?, for we were sa
terrified at the tones of the lady's voice,
that we feared she would have us punished
if she found us there; and above all, papa,
apprehended, should we await his return,
he would ask us how we got in ; and as we
could not. tell an untruth, he would have
the chink stopped up, and then no more
flowers could be strewed upon my mother's
grave."

11 Oh. Adelaide!" exclaimed the agi-
tated Falkland, u I wish you had informed
me of all this the moment you returned."

" Papa, I could not, because you were
then at Winchelsea. But all my alarm
ended not there; for as I was standing at
the nursery window I beheld this very
same gentleman walk up the paddock.
Oh! I thought he was come to complain
of my intrusion, and that Miss Alicia
would hear all ; but soon I saw him go
away, and I was quite glad."

168

cl Alas! my poor, unconscious child, you
had no cause to rejoice/' said Falkland.
" That gentleman, I have little doubt, was
Lord Roscoville, who came hither to ac-
knowledge himself to you, under the in-
fluence of the favourable impression you
had made upon him."

169

CHAPTER X.

Nine years at length elapsed since the'
love-stricken Falkland had been forbidden*
by the stern decree of General Aspenfield,
to cherish a hope of ever being united to
the lovely Rosalind; and during those years
of invincible constancy much unequivocal
encouragement had been given him to make
his addresses in various families, and to
some objects so fair in form and high in
birth, that nothing but the impenetrable
shield which Rosalindas image had placed
before his heart could have saved it from a
second captivity: yet in all that time he
had never dared to enquire had the mar-
riage, announced in the papers as being in
contemplation, taken place. For though
sometimes fancying this proof of Rosalind's
inconstancy might effect a total revulsion
in his affections, yet the thought of such
a revulsion made him wreathe in mental
anguish, and still withheld him from in-
quiries which might lead to the conviction
of Rosalind's inconstancy commanding his.

VOfc.J. t

170

And these melancholy years of inauspi-
cious love had just completed their ninth
anniversary as the peace of Amiens remov-
ed the interdict to visiting France, when the
wings of many a British subject expanding
bore them rapidly across the channel ; and
amongst others the Earl and Countess of
Beechbrook, who lived in the neighbour-
hood of Seaview, and were the intimate
friends of Falkland; for his skill had re-
stored her ladyship from a wretched state
of health to a most perfect one ; and her
gratitude, in consequence, led her to place
him in a most exalted station in her re-
gard : but her husband's gratitude led him
further still, even to consecrate Falkland as
a being for his idolatry; and in every in-
stance both Lord and Lady Beechbrook's
only contest seemed to be which should
evince the greater portion of regard, re-
spect, and attention to him.
i From this attachment to Falkland Lord
Beechbrook was led to develop the secret
of his friend's inauspicious love, and with
a never slumbering sympathetic recollec-
tion of the cause of Falkland's melancholy
in his mind, he lost not a moment after he

1/1

found General and Mrs. Aspenfield with
their lovely daughter at Paris to get an in*
traduction to them, and with equal promp-
titude and good management to discover
that the fair Rosalind's attachment to his
friend was unsubdued.

Rosalind was not slow in making her
discoveries too ; and the moment she deve-
loped the friendship the Beechbrooks enter-
tained for Falkland she did her utmost to
cultivate an intimacy with them; and soon,
in the fulness of her heart, reposed in the
bosom of Lady Beechbrook the griefs that
oppressed her, the annihilation of every
hope of happiness that threatened her..

With many tears and painful blushes she
informed her ladyship of her long cherished
afTection for Falkland, and though so long
a hopeless one, the importunities and com-
mands of her parents to accept Mr. Saville
had proved successless ; when now, irritated
by her long contumacy, her parents and
Mr. Saville had planned their expedition to
France, under the auspices and counsel of
her aunt, Mrs. Harvey, (one of the most
subtile amongst women,) for the purpose
of trepanning her into this hated marriage :

12

172

that to her cousin Helena Harvey she was
indebted for the discovery of this direful
ploc in meditation against her happiness;
and that the arbitrary cruelty it indicated
had led her to a determination, could she
accomplish such an undertaking, to elope
from her parents, and fly for protection to
her uncle, Admiral Dan vers, who was then
stationed at Leghorn.

The moment Lord Beechbrook learned
there was an unjustifiable plot forming
against the beloved of his friend, and that
she had in contemplation an elopement to
avoid it, he offered her his advice and his
services, when she unhesitatingly adopted
the one, and accepted the other : she gave
up her hazardous project of proceeding
to Leghorn, and accompanied the Beech-
brooks to England, to erase wretchedness
from the tablet of Falkland's life by be-
stowing her hand upon him; a gift which
this constant lover's letters to Lord Beech-
brook convinced her he coveted as ardently
as in the spring of their loves.

As. this elopement of Miss Aspenfield's
required some policy to accomplish, Lord
Beechbrook hired a woman of concording

173

appearance to personate Rosalind, and with
means and instructions to proceed towards
Leghorn, as a fugitive anxious to elude pur-
suit ; while Rosalind herself commenced
her journey to her native country under
the disguise of a Parisian governess, taken
over by Lord and Lady Beechbrook to
their daughters, having left with her ready
friend, Miss Harvey, a letter to her pa-
rents, to account for her flying from them
to seek the protection of her uncle at Leg-
horn, in her discovery of the cruel plot
they had formed against her happiness.

At length Miss Aspenfield safely readied
Beechbrook with her new friends, and as a
speedy union was expedient (lest General
Aspenfield should have discovered the
wrong scent he was directed to, and arrive
to tear his daughter from her lover), the
very morning after she reached Beech-
brook the long and ardently attached Falk-
land and Rosalind were united.

The raging phrenzy of the despair-mad-
dened Alicia, when this marriage was an-
nounced to her in a note from Falkland,
fpils description; nor could his apology,
in the necessity of its proving a clandestine

1?4

measure, preventing his intimating this to
him most happy event ere it had taken
place, silence her clamour " at the indig-
nity offered to the niece of the benefactor
of the pauper Falkland, in his not deigning
the condescension of acquainting her with
his projected union."

The summon of the indignant Alicia
called Mr. Crow to hear from her of the
ingratitude of Falkland to her uncle's me-
mory, when this interested designer, art-
fully inflaming her wounded vanity, led
her into his ambitious views by consenting
to become his on the succeeding morning;
and to prevent the possibility of the return
of Falkland from operating to his disap-
pointment, spirited her away to the house
of his mother, where she remained that
night, and the following day the knot was
tied which gave to the subtile Crow full
power over her fortune; since, in the
phrenzy of her mortification, she thought
not of securing one shilling to herself.

Falkland, through gratitude to Mr. Old*
worth's memory, settled immediately upon
Mrs. Crow, exempt from the power of her
husband, an annuity, which Doctor Woode-

175

house named, as a handsome equivalent I9r
the advantages she had derived from her
residence in his house, and sent to her the
furniture of her own apartments ; but even
this liberal conduct did not satisfy the ra-
pacious Crows, who gave Falkland no peace
until a moiety was delivered to them of all
the plate, china, and other personal effects
of Mr. Old worth.

Soon as possibility would admit of it,
Rosalind received a letter from Miss Har-
vey, informing her of many particulars
relative to the implacable displeasure of
General Aspenfield, and of his still pur-
sued successless retracing of the flight of
her fugitive semblance ; and in this epistle
were so many intimations conveyed of Mr.
Saville's growing philosophy upon his dis-
appointment, and of his increasing atten-
tions to the writer, that suspicion was in-
troduced into the minds of Mr. and Mrs.
Falkland of the cause of her zeal in the
promotion of their happiness.

For about three weeks after the marriage
of Falkland, Adelaide was the happiest of
the happy, because she saw her guardian
was so, and that Miss Alicia was gone

176

ftom the house for ever ; but at the termi-
nation of the third week, the novelty of
Mrs. Falkland's cheering presence begin-
ning to subside, Adelaide gradually disco-
vered she was no longer the first object of
her guardian's care, the companion of
many of his rambles, the being to whom
his every leisure moment was devoted.
The filially tender affection she cherished
for him led her to observe all this with
painful feelings ; and, in addition to the
afflicting apprehension of having lost her
place in her guardian's heart, was the ac-
tual ill of being deprived by his marriage
of his valuable instructions; a privation
which her judgment painted to her as in-
calculable.

* And I am sure Mrs. Falkland does not
very much like me, nurse," said Adelaide,
as in the surcharged feelings of her sorrow-
ing heart she made her lamentations to her
beloved Norah, ti since she never desires
me to sit with her; so I fear me sadly
she will persuade my guardian to send me
off to school : but I'll exert my every fa-
culty to prevent that dreaded evil, for I'll
study all things he has so kindly taught

177

me so indefatigably, that when he comes
to hear me in each branch again he will
not have the heart to send me From him,
and you, my nursy."

Adelaide adhered to her resolution :
her studies were, indeed, indefatigable";
Her mornings were all her own> since Mrs.
Falkland, although extremely charmed with
her, seldom requested her company ; as, in
the devotion of her attachment to her hus-
band, she feared the presence of this poor
child in the short moments Falkland could
snatch each morning from his patients to
give to her, lest a word or look might
be monopolized by Adelaide ; and her ex-
cursions for exercise being now left to
Obearn, who had lately sprained her ancle,
they were but circumscribed ; so that al-
most the whole of her day she could novf
exclusively dedicate to her improvement.

One honey-moon had terminated* and
another was far advanced in equal redund-
ance of sweets over the head of Falkland
and his Rosalind, when at dinner one day
Falkland was struck with alarm by the pale
cheeks and visible attenuation of his still
as ever tenderly beloved ward. His atten-

l5

178

tion once attracted became stedfast, and
soon he perceived her appetite was flown,
when, wild with apprehension, he eagerly
demanded CJ what was her ailment?"

Adelaide blushed with pleased emotion
at a renovation of former interest, and ans-
wered, with a grateful smile, " Nothings
papa."

*- Faith, but there is something the mat-
ter, Miss, and 'tis a shame for you to be
denying it !" exclaimed Dennis, with un-
usual flippancy, and who was just going to
withdraw with the other servants, their
attendance being ended. — -' Sure, myself
.agreed with Norah this blessed morning
no longer to delay telling his honour of
you, who might have seen fast enough, if
he had observed you, that a morsel as big
as a midge's fetlock you have not eaten
this week past." >

" Tell of my Adelaide ! What can be
the matter? Instantly explain yourself, \
command you, Sir!" exclaimed the dismay-
ed Falkland, knowing not what to build his
terrors on.

" Upon my conscience, Sir, 'tis killing
herself by cubits, let alone inches, she is,;

179

never taking a morsel of exercise all the
clay long, not so much as a ride upon her
little fattening up idler of a nag, nor food,
nor uatural rest. Four o'clock never-find-
ing her in her bed. Study, study, day and
night, barring the time she visits her sick
pinsioners, and fags in the dunces academy
up in the village, teaching the children that
can't learn, which she took pity on ; and
all this murdering of herself is for fear she
would be forgetting one grain of all the
instructions your honour gave her."

The deepest blush of conscious shame at
having neglected his beloved charge so re-
prehensibly mantled the line countenance
of Falkland ; and while a tear of pained
sensibility and contrition trembled in his
eyes, he caught Adelaide in his arms, and
pressed her with paternal fervour to his
bosom, exclaiming — •

<e Forgive, forgive, my Adelaide, the in-
attention which led you to that fear !" And
as he liberated this loved child from his
embrace, he beheld the naturally blooming
cheeks of his Rosalind blanched to the hue
of death, whilst the anguished terror her

180

countenance expressed betrayed to him
the ill she suffered from.

An anguished sigh burst from the heart
of Falkland, that Rosalind should have
such an alloy mingled with every perfec-
tion a woman could be gifted with; but
stifling the sigh in its utterance, he looked
at his wife as if there was nothing unusual
in her aspect ; and again drawing Adelaide
towards him, he gazed with tender anxiety
upon her face, and asked her innumerable
questions relative to her health, until a
loud sob of Rosalind's broke upon his ap-
palled ear.

H Rosalind, my love 1" he promptly said,
" weep not so piteously at this, I grieve to
confess, inexcusable neglect of ours to this
sacredly entrusted ward of mine — to this
insulated orphan of your earliest, dearest
friend."

Mrs. Falkland was subdued : she started
from her seat, and pressed with tremulous,
eloquent energy the hand of her husband,
as she took from his arms to her own the sen-
sibly affected Adelaide; her jealous pangs
now changed to tender sympathy.

181

" Augustus," she exclaimed, <e do not—
in mercy do not, tell me the child of my
Ellen is ill — very ill, through my cruel
neglect !"

* Alas ! my Rosalind, I cannot tell you
she is not ill — very ill; but, for your con-
solation, I think it possible in a short space
of time to rectify the injury we have done
her by our inattention : yet we must be
diligent in our care, for my sweet child has
indeed pursued her studies within an inch
of her life. "

" Oh! do you prescribe for her, and I'll
be her careful, tender nurse, inspired by
affection for my Ellen's memory with all a
mother's anxious love. What, Augustus,
can be done for her ? Oh ! let us hasten
to make amends for past neglect."

" I prescribe," said Falkland, " air and
gentle exercise, with eight hours sleep out
of every twenty-four ; the most nutritious
food, frequently taken, with a total inter-
dict to every branch of study for one
month at least."

The delicate state which Adelaide was
reduced to was not wholly owing to the
exertions she made to acquire proficiency

182

In her studies: she loved Falkland as his
child, and to be deprived at once of the
fond caresses of her parent, and, as she
feared, his love, struck with a rankling
wound to her heart; and the idea of being
no longer tenderly regarded by any indi-
vidual but her nurse filled her young bo-
som with anguish injurious to her health;
and now, artless as innocence could make
her, she proclaimed the true seat of her
malady at once, by saying

" Oh ! papa, if you only look at me, and
speak to me sometimes as you used to do,
I shall have not one ill to make me pale and
thin. I shall then sleep long and soundly ;
Mrs. Falkland will be spared her kind
trouble in nursing me, and my poor stu-
dies need not be interdicted."

Falkland's cheeks were tinged by the ac-
cusing pangs of his heart as the words of
Bouverie sounded there with pained re-
membrance—

" That being must be less than human
who could wound the heart of Adelaide."

" My love !" he exclaimed, " if I ceased
to look and speak as usual, it was not be-
cause you had lost your place in my affec^

18

«

tion, but that a treasure I bad believed fo?
ever torn from me was restored, and joy
monopolized my every thought."

" Oh ! Sir," returned Adelaide, impres-
sively, " and the first in every thought that
treasure's place I know will always be;
but only let me sometimes see I am still
dear to the affection of my tender, foster-
ing father — let Mrs. Falkland regard me as
a young sister, calling me to her, or send-
ing me from her, as her wishes regulate*
and your eleve will be once more a happy
girt."

" Ah ! Adelaide," said Mrs. Falkland,
tenderly kissing her, " I fear you will hate
me for despoiling you of so much of your
guardian's attention*"

" Hate vou, Madam !" exclaimed Ade-
laide, with strong feeling. "You! who
illumined my guardian's eyes with glad-
ness, and made him smile, and talk, and
look like happy men !"

" And she shall give you happiness too,,
my beloved and estimable child. !" said Falk-
land, as he looked with all the fascinating
tenderness of his grateful soul upon his Ro<-
saljnd,, " by yielding you what your heart

184

pants for — knowledge and improvement j
since she, by taking up much of my time
from you, destroys my power of giving you
as much instruction as I was wont to do,
ought to make the amends honorable, by-
imparting to you some of those mental
refinements, those exquisite accomplish-
ments, which she excels in. No one,
Adelaide, could have a more completely
perfect preceptress; no one, Rosalind, since
your own teachers were so fortunate, a more
docile pupil."

The look with which this request was
accompanied must have vanquished Rosa-
lind, had she felt inclined to negative it;
and now, with a respondent look at Falk-
land, -she promised her instructions to his
gentle ward.

And never, indeed, had child a more
competent, indefatigable preceptress; and
never teacher a more satisfactory pupil :
and Falkland, wishing as ardently as ever
to bear his part in embellishing the mind
and giving greater firmness to the too fe-
mininely gifted intellectual faculties of this
sensitive child, dedicated as much of his
time as he could in possibility spare from

185

his Rosalind to the instruction of Ade-
laide, who became the chosen companion
of many of Mrs. Falkland's hours, accom-
panied her out in her carriage (for Falk-
land, remembering all e-he sacrificed for
him, strained every point to keep one for
her), and even on pedestrian and equestrian
excursions, when Falkland himself was with
her, Adelaide formed a third in the happy
party ; and each day and hour her affection
augmented for the child of her Ellen, al-
though some anguished pangs would often
thrill through her ardently adoring bosom,
alarmed that any being should hold so high
a place in the tenderness of her husband's
heart as Adelaide so unequivocally did.

The marriage of Falkland had been ce-
lebrated just six months when the family
tomb of the De Morelands was opened
once more for the solemn rite of inter-
ment. The unnatural great-grandfather
of Adelaide was " gathered to his ances-
tors."

The death of Lord De Moreland was no
sooner known to Falkland than, with the
zeal of a careful guardian, he wrote to the
executors of his lordship upon the subject

186

■of Adelaide's claims to her father's portion,
and the bequest of her grandfather. The
executors were the heir apparent and Lady
Ley burn: the former was not returned from
the continent, but from the latter he re-
ceived the following laconic reply.

" To Mr. Falkland, apothecary, &c.

Seaview, Kent.
"sir,

" There is neither will nor marriage set-
tlement of my late father; therefore the
imaginary claims of Miss Adelaide Bou*
verie can never be substantiated.
" I am, Sir,

" Your humble servant,

" Isabella Leyburn."

Upon receipt of this epistle, Falkland
determined to await an interview with the
new Lord De Moreland, who would now
necessarily return to England, ere he re-
sorted to legal aid for the recovery of his
ward's undoubted property ; and at length
two months more elapsed, during which
Falkland made repeated inquiries if his
lordship was yet arrived : when one morn-

187

ing Doctor Woodehouse abruptly entered
to show Falkland a letter he that moment
had received.

<f The Rev. Doctor Woodehouse.

*' Roscoville Abbey, January 5th, 1805.
" DEAR SIR,

" Only two days since I arrived at Ros-
coville, and have but this moment learned
that the earnest request I made to my late
grandfather, through my sisters embassy,
several years ago, was not complied with.
The power has now devolved to me to be the
accomplisher of my own wishes, and there-
fore I delay not in requesting you, dear
Sir, to have — -with all the solemnity so sa-
cred a measure requires, with all the re-
spect and reverence such a pattern of conju-
gal and every other excellence claims from
all who loved my inestimable brother — to
have the remains of the wife of his bo-
som removed, at last, to her appropriate
station — the side of her husband, in the
mausoleum of his ancestors.

" I must further request of you, dear Sir*
to take the trouble for me of ordering the
simple tablet which told where my lament-

188

ed sister found a temporary rest not to be
removed; as I mean to place a monumental
urn upon that spot, as a tribute to the af-
fecting filial piety of her infant child, who
now in her more mature years, as soon as
business, which at present overwhelms me,
permits, I shall hasten to Seaview to em-
brace, and to improve the impression she
long since made upon my heart ; when I
shall have the pleasure of returning you,
in person, my sincere thanks for the trou-
ble I feel convinced you will unhesitatingly
take for me; and I remain,

f< Dear and reverend Sir,
u Yours most truly,

" De Moreland."

The heart of Falkland felt the most
enthusiastic gratification at this tribute of
respect to the remains of the truly inesti-
mable Elllen, and hailed with parental
rapture all that was auspicious in the letter
of her uncle to the future prospects of his
precious ward, whom, early on the subse-
quent morningjhe sent off with his Rosalind
to spend a day and a night at Dover with
Colonel and Mrs. Walsingham, that she

189

might know nothing of the solemn removal
until after it had taken place; and when
the unexpected and gratifying communi-
cation was gently made to her by her guar-
dian, she was so powerfully affected that he
rejoiced in having spared her feelings the
agitation they would have been subdued
by had she known the moment in which
this melancholy, fondly cherished wish of
her heart was realizing.

As Lord De Moreland's intention of vi-
siting Adelaide was known to Falkland, he
forbore to tease his lordship with any let-
ter relative to her claims; but after some
little time of expectation had elapsed, in-
stead of his lordship, a request arrived, in
a* letter from Montagu Bouverie to Falk-
land, to grant permission to his ward, at-
tended by her nurse, to visit her uncle,
who was too unwell to undertake even the
short excursion to Seaview ; and who, on
a particularized day, would send a carriage
to convey Adelaide to lloscoville Abbey.

Bouverie was himself but a iew days re-
turned from sharing the glories of his brave
fellow subjects in our successful campaign
in Egypt. He had been pursuing his stu-

ISO

dies at Cambridge, with high renown to
his superexcellent abilities, for nearly two
years; during which, by the machinations
of Lady Ley burn, he had never found a
moment to fulfil his promise of visiting his
friends at Seaview ; when the indulgent
mother of Lord Ley burn, discovering her
son's protracted stay at the university
would only be to proclaim his vices and
want of talent to the world, granted his
petition for entering the army ; when two
commissions were promptly purchased, and
Bouverie, without being consulted upon
the occasion, found himself gazetted as an
ensign in the foot.

Fortunately for Bouverie, the army was
the profession of his decided choice; and
the two young ensigns had scarcely at-
tended a dozen parades, and exhibited
their then bullioned epaulettes at a dozen
assemblies at quarters, when their regiment '
was ordered on foreign service, under the
command of the gallant general who died
the death of glory in the moment of con-
quest.

Bouverie's raptures knew no bounds at
the idea of seeing service, and earning for

191

himself the character of a true soldier;
whilst the pusillanimous Lord Leyburn,
alarmed at the dangers of the profession,
the holiday aspect of which had fascinated
him, implored his mother to send in his re-
signation ; but this disgraceful project his
great-grandfather sternly negatived, and
he was compelled to go: — but, ere the
storming of Alexandria, his anticipating
fears saved his fame by actually confining
him to his bed with serious illness, brought
on solely by alarm for his precious life ;
and whilst his lordship was combating
with sickness in his bed, Bouverie, in com-
bating the enemies of his country, con-
trived to signalize himself, even where
everv man who fought covered his shield
with glory and his brows with laurel.

Bouverie's regiment had met with some
detention abroad, and was only just landed
in England, after its glorious career on the
Egyptian soil, and Bouverie attended Lord
Leyburn to Roscoville: his lordship, now
fancying himself covered by the glory of
his regiment, conceived this the golden
opportunity of retiring from a service he
had no relish for, and therefore lost not a

192

moment in flying to his mother to arrange
with her for shielding himself from the ter-
rors of death in battle ; a measure which
her ladyship promptly acceded to. This
long- wished for resignation was sent in;
and Bouverie was liberated from the chains
that long linked him to the pursuits of a
being he despised.

Bouverie experienced a most flattering
reception from his new guardian, Lord De
Moreland, who well knew how to appreci-
ate that inherent valour he had lost his be-
loved father and brother by; and Bouverie
^was honoured with a share of his lordship's
confidence, which he deemed his nephew
unworthy of; and in one of their frequent
conversations Bouverie took occasion to
mention the" interesting Adelaide, and to
bestow just commendation upon Falkland's
parental care of her, when Lord De More-
land, expressing much indignation at Mr.
Falkland's • inexplicable and inexcusable*
rudeness in never condescending to ac-
knowledge the receipt of a letter his lord-
ship had written to him on his arrival in
Fiance, after his last departure from Eng-
land, relative to his interesting niece;

193

Bouverie hastened to exculpate Falkland
from such a breach of urbanity, by a sug-
gestion that the letter had never reached
his hands, through interested interceptors
and mercenary agents.

Lord De Moreland promptly subscribing
to the possibility of such villanage having
been practised, and apprehending a repeti-
tion of it, should he himself write to the
guardian of his niece, he requested his
ward to act as his amanuensis in Adelaide's
invitation to the mansion of her forefathers.

Bouverie readily undertook to execute
the commission ; and as he sent his own
trusty servant express with the letter, and
orders to deliver it only to Doctor Falk-
land, he felt no alarm about its safe convoy
to the hand of his friend; and therefore
wrote in full confidence to Falkland, re-
gretting the invitation had not been ex*
tended to him, as he feared without his
encouraging presence the timid Adelaide
would find her visit to Roscoville a most
comfortless one.

" For Lord De Moreland's manners do
no justice to his heart," he said ; iC as the
invincible indolence of his nature presents

vol. i. k

an insurmountable interdict to the trouble
of making himself pleasing, except to those
he highly estimates; whilst the languor of
vanquished health, and the melancholy de-
rived from a suspected hapless attachment
abroad, have rendered him now almost ha-
bitually gloomy and unsocial, unfitting him
for every exertion, and giving his Machia-
velian sister a guiding power over him that
he can make no effort to resist; and scarcely
can I entertain a doubt that she will ma-
noeuvre, by her intriguing ingenuity, to
overthrow our lovely, interesting Adelaide
in her uncle's partially inclined favour,
since his acquired and constitutional su-
pinity will, I fear, not allow him to make
the exertion of judging her himself; but
whilst I am here yoa may rest assured I
will prove a sovereign antidote to Lady
Leyburn's subtile poisons."

I9S

CHAPTER XI,

Tins invitation from Lord De Moreland
filled the mind of Falkland with extreme
disquietude. The worldly interests of Ade-
laide demanded it should be accepted, but
her more precious interests were to be im-
periled by the pernicious example of vice
in its, perhaps, most attractive forms, ere
her judgment was matured to discover its
deformity behind its specious mask ; and
without one guardian friend to form her
estimation of characters and events in the
impressions made on her immaculate mind
on her first acquaintance with fashionable
life and dissipated manners, and to sup-
port and comfort her in the many trials
he doubted not the interested policy of
Lady Ley burn would assail his timid, in-
sulated child with: and though he felfe
full gratitude to Bouverie for his promised
kindness, yet his was not the protection for
her applicable to the occasion, although he
might prove or essential service to the pre*
servation of her temporal concerns.

k2

196

Eagerly now Falkland sought the beloved
partner of his bosom to confide in her all
his anxious alarms, who warmly participat-
ed in them ; and so much did she feel for
the distressing situation of this timid child
(now little more than twelve years and a
half old) upon this inevitable visit, that she
almost wept with vexation at the impracti-
cability of her guardian and herself accom-
panying her in it.

At length, on the appointed day, a chaise
and four, with two equestrian attendants,
arrived for the reluctant Adelaide, to take
her for the first time from the protection
of her exemplary guardian, since she had
been bequeathed to his fostering care ; but
even this protection, sent by her uncle for
his precious charge, Falkland deemed in-
sufficient, since, from the shortness of the
days, she would be compelled to pass a
night upon the road ; and, therefore, order-
ing four hoises to his own carriage, he and
his Rosalind accompanied her on her first
day's journey ; and on the succeeding
morning, when he parted from this adored
eleve, for her to proceed on her way to
Eoscoville, his regret al separation was so

197

augmented by her tender, affect ing sorrow
at leaving him, that Rosalind felt many
a former obtruding pang thrill painfully
through her bosom, at this further convic-
tion of how fondly the affections of her
husband clung to this child of his parental
care.

Obearn was unlike her nursling in feel-
ings relative to this visit; for she set out
in joyful expectation of every good arising
from it for the adored child of her care,
whom she considered to see, and know,
and love, as synonimous certainties; and
that, therefore, Lord De Moreland would
not only allow all her claims, but make her
his own heiress, and unite her to some one
of the duke's sons whom she and Dennis
had been the preceding day stuctying the
peerage to discover were unmarried, and in
age suitable to their darling ; and as all
she uttered during their journey being an-
ticipations of every comfort and happiness
awaiting Adelaide through the spontaneous
affect ion of her uncle, every trace of tears
and line of sorrow were superseded by
animated hope on the counteuanec OI our
young traveller ere she ar«ired at M ^

198

about two miles from Roscoville, where, at
one of the principal inns, her chaise, from
- previous instruction, stopped, and Montagu
Bcuverie presented himself at the carriage
side.

The memory of Adelaide, faithful to all
who had ever evinced kindness to her, in-
stantly recognized him; and with eyes
sparkling and cheeks mantling with joy,
she held out her ready hand to greet so
dear a friend, as she in delight exclaim-
ed—

" Oh ! I am so glad to see you ! I have
iearned from my dear guardian how kind-
how very kind, you are to me; and so I
am very much afraid I shall never, never
while I live be able to tell you how grate-
ful I am for your goodness, Mr. Bouverie."

" Then while you live never take the
trouble of making the attempt; — but my
name is still Montagu, Miss Formality,"
answered Bouverie, smiling with pleasure
and admiration on the lovely girl, as, in
obedience to his mandate, the carriage
door was opened. " Come, now, dear

l 1oide, exert a little of your self-posses-
Afltto^. * - vou through an interview

sion to sustain * . j

199

with somebody who is much disposed to
love you, aud is waiting in this inn to
give you his paternal welcome and em-
brace, without the annoyance of witnesses
to his feelings and yours."

" Witnesses !" faltered out Adelaide.
" Then will not you be present, Montagu ?
Will not you present me to him ?"

te Had I not intended it, such a resistless
look and tone of supplication must have
led me to it," he replied, pressing her hand
affectionately. ."And now, my good
friend, pretty Mrs. Obearn, do not you
look so alarmed. I shall take all possible
care of your idol for my own sake, as I
very much suspect you would slay me if I
failed to bring your treasure safe back to
you."

Adelaide now got out of the carriage ;
but she trembled so excessively at the idea
of being welcomed to the affection of her
father's brother, that gladly she allowed
Bouverie to put her hand through his arm
for support.

Ci Heavens! Adelaide," he exclaimed, as
he looked with surprised admiration at her
form fast rising to perfection, " how asto-

200

nishingly tall you are grown ! But thoa
dear, sensitive trembler, how you are agi-
tated ! Shall I get you a glass of water, to
compose you ere you see his lordship?
Yet indeed, my lovely sister, you have no-
thing to apprehend."

" Oh ! but I have," said Adelaide; " for
I know he resembles my own papa, and if
he should not love me, it will be great un-
happiness for me : but as to the water,
Montagu, it could do me no good, since
I always tremble when anxious about any
thing."

" Well, well," said Bouverie, smiling,
"you need not tremble in apprehension,
of not winning the affection of your uncle ;
since the heart, I fancy, is your native
home, and no one can choose but give you
your own dwelling. "

At this moment they arrived at the door
of the room where Lord De Moreland was
impatiently waiting to receive the child of
a beloved brother, who, on hearing their
approach, rushed forward with a degree of
animation that Bouverie expected not from
his habitual indolence; and snatching Ade-
laide to his bosom, pressed her with fervent

201

tenderness to his heart, which had ever
throbbed with fond affection for her father.

The moment his lordship relaxed in his
embrace, Adelaide, gliding from his arms,
sunk on her knees before him, and tremu-
lously murmured out the pathetic over-
flowings of her grateful heart for his re-
verence to the ashes of her mother.

The seraphic look, the melting tones, the
affecting language of Adelaide, all subdued
his lordship to shedding of those tears
which tender recollection of her father
had caused to tremble in his eyes ; and,
raising her from her knees, and clasping
her in his arms, he faltered out —

H My sweet child, how you affect me!"

A pause of some moments now ensued;
for Bouverie, too, could have said, " sweet
child, how you affect me!" but at length
his lordship spoke in a low tone, addressed
to Montagu.

" She is a lovely, very lovely, interest-
ing creature."

" The most attractively so of any being
I ever yet- beheld," replied Bouverie, in a
respondent tone.

M Why, then, you think her more beautV-

ful than her cousins ?" said Lord De More-
land, with quickness.

ce Perhaps not so dazzlingly so," replied
Bouverie ; " but Adelaide has looks

■' that deeply pierce the soul;
Where, with the light of thoughtful reason mix'dy
Shines lively fancy, and the feeling heart.' '*'

Lord De Moreland gazed scrutinizingly
at Bouverie as he spoke of Adelaide, until
suddenly he started, turned to the blanched
hue of death, and heaved a sigh so like a
groan of anguish, that his companions, ter-
rorized, enquired " if he was ill?"

(l Nothing of consequence, my kind
children," replied his lordship, rising from
his seat. " Montagu, reconduct this dear-
girl to her carnage to proceed to Rosco-
Ville, and we will pursue our ride."

His lordship tenderly embraced his niece,,
in adieu; and Montagu took her hand to
lead her out, when Lord De Moreland call-
ed her back to him*.

<s I had nearly forgotten," he said, ." that
hoys and girls like to spend money as well
as men and women.. There is a purse for
you, my Adelaide,, and when you have

203

emptied it, your banker, De Moreland, will
have great pleasure in replenishing it."

" Oh ! my dear, kind uncle !" exclaimed
Adelaide, ready to cry with gratitude, "I
am as rich as Croesus, and do not want
your intended goodness. Mr. Falkland
gave me ten guineas this morning, which
I can never spend in my visit, since I have
no wants, and there can be no poor requir-
ing aid near Roscoville."

u My dear, unsophisticated child !" re-
plied his lordship, smiling, iC I fear there
may be found poor requiring aid on many
a rich man's estate ; therefore do you take
this purse, and perhaps you may contrive
to discover some on mine. Adelaide, this
is my first gift to you, and pain me not by
a refusal of it."

Adelaide instantly took the purse with
graceful reverence, and pressed the hand
of her uncle with gratitude and affection
to her lips-; and, as she departed with her
attractive escort, his lordship heaved a sigh,
that apprehensions of jealous feuds and en-
vious littleness must prevent his encourag-
ing this endearing child's affectionate at-
tentions to him.

204

u I feel they would do me good,"' he
mentally said; " I feel they would allure
my thoughts, at times, from the misery
that subdues me."

The carriage which conveyed Adelaide
at length entered the extensive park of
Roscoville, and, according to orders re-
ceived at the lodge, drove to the back en-
trance, dedicated to servants and trades-
people, where an affected, coarse-looking
woman, swathed into a fashionable mummy,
awaited the arrival of Miss Bouverie, whom
she pertly desired " to follow her," and or-
dered " Obearn to proceed down a long
passage," which she pointed out, announce
ing, " it would lead her to the kitchen."

u This is my nurse, my respected nurse !5J>
said Adelaide, in painful alarm. " Mrs.
Obearn never sits in kitchens ; she always
sits, m my apartments. I request the
housekeeper may be informed of this."

<f Lady Ley burn has made the harrange-
ment, Miss, said the nursery damsel, scorn-
fully. "You, Miss, are to be lodged with,
my Lady Hambrosiar and Master Ley burn,
during your stay at Roscoville, Miss ; and
as your nurse is an Irishwoman, she can-

205

not be admitted in that there bapartments
as they inhabits, feared she should barba-
rise the pronouncation of my Lady Ham-
brosiar and the Honourable Master Ley-
burn, MissS

Adelaide threw her arms around her
painfully agitated Norah's neck ; and as she
tenderly kissed her, she softly whispered —

" Alas ! we must submit ; but the mo-
ment I see my own friend Montagu, he
will har-range for the ears of your child to-
be blessed again with the sound of yonr
dear, barbarous accents, my own nursy.'*

And now, in painful submission to arbi-
trary cruelty, the poor nurse and child se-
parated ; Obearn to find her way to the
menial servants, and Adelaide to follow
the wreathing mummy to the nursery,
which she found a perfect Augean stable*
that would indeed require the arm of Her-
cules to cleanse and clear from the accu-
mulations of slothfulness ^ where poor Ade-
laide found, as she was informed, two of
her cousins, Lady Hambros'iar and the
Ho-no-rable Master Leyburn.

Lady Ambrosia was dazzlingly beautiful
fc-ut so diminutive in stature, that although.

206

nearly three years older than Adelaide, her
being confined almost exclusively to the
nursery could not prove a matter of won-
der to those unacquainted with her age ; a
measure her mother felt happy her appear-
ance sanctioned, since she was as defective
in every species of information as she was
in height.

Her brother, Cyrus Leyburn, was a
posthumous child, and was just two years
younger than his sister Ambrosia; and
from his mother's unnatural antipathy to
him was chiefly* confined to the nursery r
except for a chance hour now and then,
when his mother's chaplain, who was deno^
minated his tutor, had time or inclination
to affect the semblance of instruction to
him ; or for every stolen one he could stray
away to the stables to his fast friends there.

Here, under the jurisdiction of a French
milliner transformed into a governess, and
an English teacher from " an establishment
for young ladies," the youngest daughter
of Lady Leyburn passed the greater part
of her time, under the supposition she there
was educating in the highest style of possi-
ble perfection ; but the parsimony of Lady

207

Ley burn leading her to fear the conviction ,
should be conveyed to her mind that more
expensive instructors would be necessary
for the acquirements of her daughter,
shrunk from an investigation of the ease*
and rarely ever visited the nursery; leaving
Mademoiselle to dedicate the chief of her
time to work for different repositories in
town; and Miss Watling, the English go-
verness, to scribble love tales for itinerant
book venders.

The moment Sharply, the nursery maid,
announced Miss Bouverie, the honourable
Master Cyrus fired a pea through a popgun*
at the entering stranger; and Lady Ambro-
sia, with a most supercilious inclination of
her head,, addressed her cousin with — .

" Your servant, Miss. I am told I
eught to remember you, but that is vastly
im possible, I was so very a baby when
my grandpapa, Lord Roscovi Lie, permitted
you and your Irish mother to take refuge
in his mansion in Bruton-street. I sup-
pose you can't remember me, for I must
be grown totally out of your recollection."

" That's a good one, dang me !" exclaim.,
ed Cyrus, " If you were too much a baby

208

to remember her, how could she, a year
younger than I am, recollect you, stupido?"

" Oh! Monsieur!" exclaimed Made-
moiselle, you are so bad sauvage ! pis que
jamais, I will make a my rapport of you."
Cyrus, snapping his fingers, began to
make faces at her, and then to fire his peas
ever her work, until her temper could no
longer brook it; when, after infinite force
feeing: exerted on both sides, she succeeded
in shoving him into an inner room, where
he contrived, by the various ludicrously
hideous noises he made, to allow no calm
to succeed his boisterous departure..

At length dinner was brought in, and'
Mademoiselle was compelled to liberate
the prisoner; and the nursery inmates sat
to table, when Cyrus gave not an indivi-
dual among them a moment's respite from
his practical jokes upon their food, or from
some other of his witty pranks, imported
from the stables, where his invincible
good-humour- and wild flow of animal
spirits had established him the favourite
and buffoon, whenever he could steal
from the nursery.

6i There is none on you to go down tlii*.

$0»

evening, " said the English teacher of
Lady Ambrosia, " owing to your exploits,
Master Ley burn, in the drawing-room
last night; and I assures you, Sir, I am
not a bit obligated to you, for I particu-
larly wanted to go down to-night, and it
was my turn to attend my pupil; but you
are the tiresomest boy as ever lived."

In the course of time tea was served,
and poor Adelaide hailed it with silent
welcome, having been nearly deprived of
her dinner by the achievements of Master
Leyburn; but her joy was of short dura-
tion, for the moment she was handed her
portion — for the ladies who presided, not
relishing trouble, helped by wholesale divi-
sions— Cyrus treated her with a shower of
what he called " nutmeg,'' from Made-
moiselle's snuff-box, in her tea.

" The cup and the lip, again, Master
Leyburn," said Adelaide, mildly. " You
seem so fond of realizing that proverb,
you will make a perfect philosopher of me
ere I quit Roscoville Abbey."

" There!" cried Cyrus, penetrated to
the heart by his cousin's gentleness, "take
half of my tea,, or all of it, or what you,

210

like. Aye, were they all to take my pranks
as you do, they would soon disarm me of
the power of teasing them."

Adelaide, promptly perceiving it would
distress Cyrus not to accept his tea, took
a little of it; and through contrition for his
last exploit against her, he allowed the
party to take this beverage in peace.

The moment tea was ended, Miss Wat-
ling desired Lady Ambrosia to go to her
music; who, with an air of consequence,
instantly complied, in the full expectation
of overpowering her cousin with amaze-
ment at her brilliancy of execution ; and
for-a few moments Adelaide was amazed at
the rapidity with which she scampered
over the keys, dashing through every bar,
and deigning not to rest, in her helter-
skelter race, to distance time: but soon
she internally smiled at this anarchy of
science, and wondered how Mr. Falkland
would be able to manage his violoncello
in accompanying such 'an impetuous per*
former.

" Is not Lady Ambrosia a most wonder-
ful performer, Miss?" demanded Miss
Watling, triumphantly, the moment her

£11 *

ladyship had charged through her first
'show off.

€t She has wonderful execution, indeed?
Ma'am," said Adelaide; " and I am amazed
how her fingers can sustain their part
through such rapidity of exertion."

" Oh !'* cried Cyrus, u she steeps them
in warm oil every night to make them
supple, and pumps upon them every morn-
ing to make them strong."

" Silence, Sir ! exclaimed Miss Wat-
ling : " Lady Ambrosia, pray enchant us
by proceeding."

But it was too much to expect from Cy-
rus to be silent and inactive at the same
time. The former he knew lie must be,
his mother's absolute command, while his
sister practised ; therefore, after silently
seeking about for employment, he bec-
koned Adelaide to approach the fire to be-
hold a beautiful appearance in it; when,
not in the least suspecting he had thrown
a paper of gunpowder under the grate, she
unhesitatingly drew near, and almost in-
stantaneously the explosion succeeded ;
when, providentially, the probable mischief
extended no further than the skirt of hQfi

212

frock, where the powder lodged, and burst
out into innumerable little flames; but,
fortunately, being bombasine, they did not
expand, and afforded Cyrus an opportu-
nity of promptly extinguishing them, by
aid of Miss Watling's new cloth pelisse,
which he unceremoniously snatched from
a chair.

For some moments the greatest conster-
nation prevailed, and not until a glass of
water was brought by the contrite per-
petrator of the mischief to poor Adelaide
could her tears be subdued, which alarm
had taught to flow ; and scarcely had this
commotion subsided", and Miss Watling
ceased thumping and scolding Cyrus for
his mal-treatment of her rc stylish pelisse,"
when the baggage of Adelaide was brought
in, and awakened a general curiosity to
inspect it.

" Where is the key of your box\ Miss?"
demanded Sharply.

" My nurse, Mrs. Obearn, has the key of
my trunk," said Adelaide.

Obearn being applied to for it, answered,
" she would not send it, as she always un-
packed Miss Bouverie's clothes herself/'

213

te Enf oncer ! break a de box open,*' ex-
claimed tbe imperious Frenchwoman. A
man was summoned for that purpose; and
the dismayed Adelaide soon beheld her
nice clothes hauled out of the trunk upon
the dirty floor, for the general inspection
of the nursery.

<f Lauk !" exclaimed the under nursery-
maid, addressing Sharply, " what stacks
of linen, all so new and nice! Why we
shall have no occasion to wash a stitch
or mend a stocking, for there will be
plenty for them both, if she stays this
month. "

" And a good thing too for us," cried
Sharply; " for my lady is so mean about
Lady liambrosiar's under things, that I
am sick to death of darning, and patching,
and repairing. Look, if ever you seed a
more beautifuler silk slip? laws! 'tis sa-
tin, to wear under this here jet black
crape! My lady never gave Lady Ham-
brosiar no such mourning as this for her
great grandpa ! Lady Hambrosiar has
nothing like this to appear in at the ball
to morrow night, and how well she would
look in it!"

214

Mutual glances of intelligence were now
interchanged between the governesses and
maids of Lady Ambrosia; and the alarmed
Adelaide, who had been reared to exer-
cise the greatest neatness in the care of her
wardrobe, now beheld her nice clothes,
which had been so exactly packed, tossed
like hay into the nursery drawers with
Lady Ambrosia's, and evidently as a com-
mon stock for her cousin and herself.

At length, most welcome to the weary
Adelaide, the hour for rest arrived ; and
with much difficulty Master Leyburne's
departure to his room was effected. Ade-
laide found all the females of the nursery
were to slumber in the same chamber, and
soon saw Lady Ambrosia dressed in some
of her bight-clothes; and though left to-
tally to *herself to undress and equip for
bed, our young heroine was quickly ready
for it ; when, perceiving no retired spot to
perform her important duty to her Creator
in, she unhesitatingly sunk on her knees
by her bed side, and not supposing a com-
mon act of piety should attract observ-
ation, felt no embarrassment at commenc-
ing her devotion there.

215

" Look ! look !" exclaimed Lady Am-
brose in amazement, motioning tor Sharp-
ly to observe, » what can she he about?"

' Saying her prayers, my Jady. I sup.
pose the poticary's people is Methodistts,
to make her so strict," returned Sharply. '

,.." ^rd"! Lady AmBrosia !" exclaimed
Miss M atlmg, i„ a tone of extreme vexa-
tion at having such an unexpected dis-
covery made of such dreadful ignorance
of sacred duty in her pupil, and the obvi-
ousness of the neglect of it in those who

surrounded her, "every one has different
methods of doing the same thing. We
you know, always says our prayers in bed
to avoid observation, as all innately pious
folks does, and not go to make a display
of what every tinker and tailor can do as
I veil as bishops and nuns."
, Lhose audible remarks, althoughthev
d.sfurbed the devotion of Adelaide, did
not enfeeble it; and the moment her fer-
vent orisons were aspirated she went into

| 'er httle bed, and slept the happy slum-
bers of health, peace, and innocence. *
, About twelve o'clock the succeeding
corning an order arrived from Lady Ley.

I

ftig

burn to the governesses to go an airing
with the children, for the benefit of Lady
Ambrosia's complexion, for the ball, at
which Lord De Morland had expressed a
desire that all the children should appear.
For about half an hour after this man-
date arrived, and for another half hour
after the barouche was announced, the
most extreme confusion prevailed in the
apartments of the nursery, preparing for
the excursion ; Cyrus running off with, or
throwing out of the window, the parapher-
nalia of the governesses as fast as they
took forth any thing from their anarchial
wardrobes to put on ; and the maids avail-
ing themselves of the welcome supply
Adelaide's trunk had afforded for the
equipment of Lady Ambrosia: and after
demolishing several new silk stockings ere
they could contrive to drag a pair on, they
proved as successless as any of the candi-
dates for the little glass slipper in forcing
her ladyship's feet into any of Adelaide's
shoes, or her hamlsinto her gloves; whilst
they all, in the most unqualified terms,
pronounced Miss Bouverie's limbs prepos-
terously diminutive; and the' slightness

217

of her form altogether underwent the
same asperity-inspired censures; since
Lady Ambrosia's shoulders were found
too broad, and her waist too thick, for
Adelaide's frocks, without the necessary
alteration of letting them out.

At length, the arduous labour of equip-
ment being achieved, they sallied forth :
and as Cyrus chose to mount the box,
Adelaide had a happy respite while on her
excursion of several miles ; durino- which
she gleaned from the conversation of the
governesses, " that Captain Bouverie was
designed by Lady Leyburn and Lord De
Moreland for one of the Ladies Leyburn,
but which, was to be left to the choice of
the young people; both agreeing Lady
Ambrosia would not be allowed by either
of her sisters to have him, since they M'ere
both so violently in love with him; while
Mademoiselle conceived Lady Seraphina
would be the one, as she always carried
her points by storm ; so like her mother
in violence of spirit, that no one dared to
resist her sovereign will: and Miss Wat-
ling, on the other hand, contended, with

VOL. I. L

318

a self-sufficient toss of her head, <c that
should interested motives induce him to
become miserable with either, Lady Cele-
stina would be the one, since she ever sue*
cessfully carried all her points by subtile
wiles and mining arts."

The disunion of these sisters was next
unceremoniously canvassed by the discreet
teachers of Lady Ambrosia; and Ade-
laide learned Ladies Seraphina and Cele-
stina were often weeks without exchang-
ing a word in private, and acting the most
diabolically envious and malicious part
towards each other; whilst in public their
display of fond attachment was fulsome,
always sitting on the same chair, if pos-
sible, encircling each other in the intwin-
ing arms of tender affection, and not un-
frequently kissing in company, to evince
their sisterlv adoration.

4/

At length *ne excursion terminated,
and the party returned to the nursery;
when Adelaide was astonished at behold-
ing Sharply at work at her new satin slip
and crape frock, letting them out in the
body; and she could not forbear telling

319

her « that trouble was unnecessary, tince
a!f her black clothes being lately made,
she had not outgrown any of them."

' Don't you believe I am fagging for
you, Miss, " returned Sharply, insolently ;
" you must be content to figure at the ball
in your black muslin and sonnet slip;
your betters must be commodated before
you."

At length dinner arrived, without one
attempt made during tlic whole day by
the governesses to give instruction to
Lady Ambrosia; and the moment this
now hurried repast was ended, the com-
mencement of the delightful employment
of adorning took place ; when the turbu-
lent Cyrus was consigned to his valet's
hands, in his own chamber; and Adelaide
for the first time in her life, beheld the toil
of vanity for appearance; and luckily for
her, it had been one of the directions left
by her inestimable mother for her educa-
tion, that she might acquire one species of
independence by early habit in learning
to attire herself; so that without one offer
of assistance she was decked for the ball,

L2

290

long ere Lady Ambrosia, with the aid of
her handmaids, was adorned in Adelaide's
best clothes.

Mademoiselle and Miss Watling were
profuse in their exclamations of rapture at
her ladyship's beautiful appearance in this
"elegant costume;" when Adelaide, with
all the inherent sweetness of her nature,
stepped forward to rectify some little er-
rors in the putting on the frock, by which
her cousin's tout ememble was considerably
improved.

" Why what a good little thing you
are!" exclaimed Lady Ambrosia; conduct
so amiable striking upon some of the na-
tural tones of her own heart, which yet
had escaped the pernicious contagion she
had been long exposed to. " I am sure
no one in all the world could have be-
haved so sweetly upon such an occasion
as you have done."

" Ah ! well," exclaimed Cyrus, who was
by this time adonized, and had forced an
entrance; " honesty' is the best policy,
after all ; for, by gales, Adelaide looks ten
thousand millions of times sweeter and

221

prettier, and more attractive every way,
than the thief who has so meanly stolen
into her clothes."

The governesses and maids now flew
like wild cats at Cyrus for his imperti-
nence; while Lady Amhrosia wept with
vexation, to think any one could say her
cousin looked prettier than she did ; until
Mademoiselle remembered weeping would"
take from the beauty of her pupil's eyes,
and scolding from the amiableness of her
own aspect; when the suppression of Lady
Ambrosia's tears was instantly command-
ed, and the resumption of her own engag-
ing smile&jspontaneously effected.

}>22

CHAPTER XII.

The governesses being full as impatient as
the juveniles to make their appearance in
the gay scene of action, they led the way
to the suit of apartments laid out for the
evening's revel, long before any of the
guests had arrived, or the other inmates of
the abbey emerged from the dining-hall
or their dressing-rooms.

Lady Leyburn was the first who ap-
peared to the anxiously-expecting nursery
party; and the poor trembling Adelaide
promptly recognised in her the fear-in-
spiring individual who had interrupted her
first interview with her uncle.

Her ladyship instantly advanced to-
ward her daughter to examine her appear-
ance ; when Adelaide (who with a timid
blush and graceful courtesy saluted her ap-
proach) arrested her attention, with a pain-
ful thrill of maternal envy; and her ex-
pressive brows knit to a scowl as she un-
graciously scrutinised the young trem-
bler.

223

-u Miss Bouverie," she at length said,
endeavouring to recover her self-posses-
sion, and assume the deceptive semblance
of cordiality by a smile ; " Miss Bouverie,
I have had no opportunity afforded me of
paying my compliments to you before.
You are well, child, I hope?" and not wait-
ing for any reply, she snatched her daugh-
ter's hand, to pull her to a distance from
Adelaide, not brooking to make her medi-
tated examination where the contrast in
form spoke so decidedly in favour of the
being she most hated.

Inmate after inmate entered, and form-
ed a group around Lady Ley burn, whose
maternal vanity they highly gratified, by
the most extravagant eulogiums upon the
surpassing beauty of the <c divine Lady
Ambrosia's" appearance.

At length a party of gentlemen from
the dining-hall made their wished-for ap-
pearance; and not a heart fluttered more
joyfully at the approach of any individual
among them than Adelaide's did when she
beheld Bouverie, and saw him almost in-
stantly advance to her; and her mantling
bloom, her illumined eyes, and the ineffa-

224

ble sweetness of her spontaneous smile,
told the gladness of her artless bosom at
meeting a friend who would be kind to
her.

Bouverie, who had ever considered Ade-
laide as a truant cherub strayed to pay a
short visit among the coarser sons and
daughters of mortal descent, now started
in amazed conviction of her celestial
stamp; and whilst he gazed in admiration,
he took her hand with tenderly pleased
emotion, and pressing it with fraternal af-
fection, said,

Cl How rejoiced I am to see my sweet
and lovely sister !"

" And I am so glad, so very, very glad
to see you, I know not which, to laugh or
cry about it," she replied.

"Do neither," said Bouverie, smiling,
in sweetness of expression responding to
her own ; ft but continue to look your joy
at seeing me precisely as you now do; and,
believe me, I shall not feel inclined to
shorten its duration. But why are you
here separated from Ambrosia, my dear
Adelaide ?" And now, drawing her hand
through his arm, and civilly bowing to live

c2%5

governesses, walked off with his lovely
young* friend, to join the group round
Lady Ley burn.

" Lady Ley burn !" he exclaimed, " I
have found some little difficulty in attract-
ing your lovely niece to your hemisphere :
she is a timid trembler, who will require
all the benign kindness of your nature to
draw her forth ; but you will find your
recompense well worth your pains."

Adelaide's bosom thrilled with gratitude
to Bouverie for this kindness; but Lady
Leyburn repelled the cordiality it meant
to awaken by an ungracious silence ;
when promptly perceiving that now at
least he must fail in the attempt of con-
ciliating this inflexible woman, he turned
off with the trembling Adelaide to a seat at
a little distance; and wishing to attract
her attention from the un kindness of her
ladyship, eagerly demanded, " why she
had played truant so long in the morn-
ing?"

i( For every time Lord De Moreland
sent to request to see you, this whole
morning," he said, " word was brought

l5

226

us you were out airing. Why you must
have been to Seaview, at least Vf

Adelaide had scarcely done expressing
her regret at what she had lost by her ex-
cursion, when the Ladies Seraphina and
Celestina Ley burn, with arms encircled in
fond affection's intwining grasp, entered,
armed cap a pee for universal conquest,
and in exulting self-conviction of the in-
vincible prowess of the weapons they
should conquer and enslave by.

Eagerly their brilliant eyes sought the
attractive object they each thought proper
to be desperately in love with, in dutiful
compliance with their speculating mother's
intention of uniting him to one of them,
as soon as she should feel full conviction
of Lord De Morland's often repeated de-
claration of never intending to marry be-
ing sincere ; and who they each were more
resolute in their determination to capti-
vate for the glory of outrivaling her sister.

At length Bouverie was discovered by
the beauteous searchers for him, seated in
the back ground, in earnest conference
with her they knew to be their obnoxious

ft?

cousin, by having seen her enter the ba-
rouche in the morning, and from whom
vain were all the glances they shot forth
to summon him ; for Bouverie never ap-
peared to comprehend glances he chose not
to understand, and who felt too indignant
at that moment with Lady Leyburn to
bestow the smallest particle of attention
upon any of her progeny.

The rooms at length were thronged with
nearly every expected guest; and Lady
Celestina, perceiving her mother purposed
that dancing should speedily commence,
could no longer brook her fears of not be-
ing the partner of Bouverie for the first
two dances; hastened to the spot where he
sat talking over every well-loved scene of
his juvenile haunts with Adelaide; when
her ladyship, with artfully imagined ma-
noeuvring and soft bewitching sweetness,
said —

" Have pity on my memory, Bouverie,
and do remind me which two of the four
first dances you engaged me for, and which
two Seraphina?"

" My memory is really as much at
fault as yours, Lady Celestina," returned

223

Bouverie gaily, " not presenting me with
the recollection of the honour of having
formed an engagement with either."

c' I wish you would not badinage, hut
tell me truly, which is to he your first
partner ; as I assure you I forget all about
it."

" By every thing serious — even by the
heard of Trophonius — and so do I, fair
Celestina!" exclaimed Bouverie; "and so
totally had it escaped my ungallant me-
mory, that I actually meditated request-
ing the pleasure of this lovely strangers
hand for the two first dances. A stran-
ger, so apparently unknown to you, that
you seem to have no presentiment, Lady
Celestina, of her being your cousin, Miss
Bouverie, the guest of your uncle."

" Oh ! I know all that !" returned Lady
Celestina; " but mamma would be dis-
pleased was I to give my dear cousin the
welcome my heart hails her with, until she
thinks proper to introduce us to each other*
But as to your dancing with Jier, you
know it is not a children's ball ; and if they
are permitted to dance at all, it must be
with each other ;; but if you are resolved;

229

upon forgetting your engagement with
me, you have my full, consent for such-
politeness. "

V But had we not better apply to Lady
Seraphina?" said Bouverie, resolving to
torment her for her conduct to Adelaide ;
" her memory may be more faithful than
ours."

" Really one would imagine I was
something hideous you had engaged your-
self to in an eclipse," said Lad}' Celestina,-

s
still achieving the effort of maintaining

her semblance of sweet gentleness; "and
when the sun emerged from darkness you>
wanted to shirk me : but you need not <ro
to Seraphina to expose your rude lapse of
memory, unless you choose it, since I now
perfectly recollect all about it, and you
engaged me for the first set."

" Indeed 5" said Bouverie with a pro-
voking look of amazement; "then what
a Lethean gulph must I since have taken !
But I trust the honour thus conferred will
at least prevent my gratitude from ever
slumbering in forgetfulness."

Lady Celestina,. though certainly not
highly flattered by the gallantry of Bou-

230

verie in accepting* her for a partner, yet
exulting that by any means she gained her
point, since it would mortify her sister, flew
back to her station by Lady Seraphina, to
await the triumph of Bouverie coming
tl .e to seek her; whilst this highly fa-
voured being, in pained perplexity, glanc-
ed his eyes around in anxious search of
some companion for the interesting, ne-
glected Adelaide — some one whom he
could wish to leave her in charge of —
but in vain.

" Pshaw !" exclaimed Bouverie; " those
odious governesses too are going to dance:
with whom can I leave you, my dear
Adelaide?"

The beautiful eyes of Adelaide filled
with painful tears of conscious insulation.
V Oh ! do not, my ever kind friend, take
any trouble to seek a companion for me
here, where none seem too partially dis-
posed towards me. I shall be safe in any
part of the room ; but only instruct me
where I shall be most out of the way of
those who wish to shun me.5)

The touching tones of Adelaide's voice
thrilled to the heart of Montagu as she

231

spoke, and the expression of her counte-
nance totally subdued him. " Lady Ce-
Iestina must manoeuvre for some other
partner. I will not leave you, my sweet
Adelaide, thus: insulated. "

" Lady CeJestina Mould never forgive
me should I prevent }'our dancing with
her; since I suppose, Montagu, she is to
obtain some wager by managing to get
you for a partner. It will not be too plea-
sant a thing, certainly, for me. reared in
comparative retirement, to feel myself
alone in this large assemblage, but still
you will be in the room with me; and
surely it is possible to get a seat where I
may see yon all the time you dance, and
that will be such comfort, and give me
courage too ; for while I see you I cannot
think myself friendless and forlorn."

Although the reluctance of Bouverie to
quit her increased with every word she
uttered, yet thinking it impolitic to per-
mit her to prove the cause of his offend-
ing a Leyburn, seated the object of his
voluntary care and solicitude upon an
elevated form ; and assuring the grateful
girl he would come and speak to her as

9*£

often as his duty as a dancer would per-
mit him, he sought Lady Celestina, and
gave her triumph in her envying sister's
eyes.

Poor* Adelaide, the moment Bouverie
quitted her, felt she was alone : her heart
thrilled in saddest measure, her eyes sought
the ground, and shame's painful blush
tingled on her cheeks, for she feared that
every eye would turn amazedly on the
poor solitary being, and wonder what im-
proper creature, to no one belonging, was,
there admitted ; but as she grew more
accustomed to her situation it became less
grievous to her ; and her courage aug-
menting by degrees, she dared, at length,.
to look around her, and even found amuse-
ment from the conversation, observations,
or character of those who were stationary,,
and those who took temporary seats upon
the benches around her.

At one period the ingenuous Adelaide,
new to the world's dissimulation, was
amazed by a lady on a form before. her,,
who highly complimented a young lady
that stopped to speak to her upon the ex-
treme loveliness of her appearance.

233

" But I believe," she added, " your
dress is peculiarly becoming to you this
evening. Always wear blue, always, dear
Miss Seabright, if you wish to captivate,
appear in blue."

Miss Seabright smiled, bowed, and
passed ori; when this adulating lady in-
stantly addressing a gentleman, who then
approached, said facetiously —

" Well, Sir John, I have heard people
talk of blue devils, but I never saw one
until I beheld Miss Seabright this instant.
Heavens! what an object the girl has made
of herself this evening!"

" She has made herself an object of
envy, Madam, this evening," rejoined Sir
John, dryly, en passant, " by her capti-
vation of my only son, who has just offered
himself to her, with my full approbation,
and has been accepted."

u Lord, have mercy!" exclaimed the
highly disconcerted lady, with her face
crimsoned with confusion : " I beg ten
thousand pardons; but I had no idea of
such an event i" and not being able to re-
main stationary with such a piece of news,
in her possession to communicate, flew off

234

to impart it to every one whom she
thought would not like to hear of the su-
perior good fortune of another ; when in-
stantly her seat was occupied by an an-
cient dame, who, with much difficulty,
pulled her daughter into a vacant place
beside her.

" I tell you what it is, Anne," said the
ruffled mother, so angrily, that what she
meant for a whisper was distinctly audible
to Adelaide ; V I will not have you so gra-
cious with that Lady Harriet. — Shall I
never convince you of the ruin you will
bring upon yourself by such an improper
intimacy ? — Indeed, whilst you were under
five-and-twenty I had no objection to
your herding with your elders ; but now it
should be your strenuous object to culti-
vate intimacies with girls in their teens,
that you may pass current for their co-
temporary, and not, as you do, add to
your age by such injudicious associations.
Don't you know, girl, if you handle an-
tiques, some of the rust will naturally ad-
here to your fingers?"

"Lord!" exclaimed the daughter pet-
tishly, " I cannot break off with her} for

235

if I do I shall lose all chance of her ne-
phew: but there she goes; I must join
her."

<( Of her nephew ! Heydey ! How is
this? You a chance of her nephew! Of
that great match !" cried the mother in an
altered tone: but her daughter flew off
without deigning to answer her ; who, all
wild anxiety to be answered, hurried after
her more craftily speculating daughter;
and in a few moments after these vacant
places were filled by Lady Ambrosia Ley-
burn and her partner, Viscount Aberavon,
a most dashing young officer of dragoons,
in full uniform, being stationed in an ap-
proximate barracks.

" Really," exclaimed her ladyship af-
fectedly, as she sunk upon the bench, u I
could not stand a moment longer for the
lower house. The commons are so much
more numerous than the peers* 'i 1

unreasonable to expect one to toil lh'

<cO!i! utterly/' returned Lord A a-
von ; "but could we not manage those
multitudinous commoners by proxy ? —
Would it not be an admirable plan to send

236

our substitutes when ve grow weary, most
divine Lady Ambrosia?"

" Oh, that would affront the people ;
many of whom, you know, are admitted
guests here for the talents they bring
with them to entertain their superiors by }
and were we not to flatter them up by the
incense of our civilities, they might grow
sulky, and refuse to pay us for suffering
their society."

" How divinely expounded !" exclaim-
ed this very young, transcendently hand-
some, and something foppish peer, in a
rapture. " By Heaven! no woman should
attempt explanations who has not, like
you, a beauteous mouth to send convic-
tion to our senses by."

At this moment two more officers of his
lordship's regiment approached, arm in
arm ; one of whom eagerly requested the
honour of dancing the next set with Lady
Ambrosia.

" Cannot, positively," she returned; "am
engaged nine deep already, Sir Charles."

Sir Charles Longuiviile was courteously
inconsolable at having his happiness so;

237

long deferred, but eagerly engaged her
ladyship's fair hand for the tenth set; and
now these additional officers remaining to
adulate Lady Ambrosia, the attentive Ade-
laide, to her utter amazement, beheld the
nursery babe, who there appeared all puerile
frowardness, wFangling with her brother, or
joining in his boisterous pranks, now flirt-
ing as adroitly as any woman in the room.
At length, Sir Charles raising his eyes above
the beautiful face of Lady Ambrosia, be-
held Adelaide.

" Heavens !" he exclaimed, " what an
angel! Who is she, Lady Ambrosia ?"

■"Oli! it is my little cousin," said her
ladyship, looking behind her. " Adelaide,
how do you do? And why are you not
dancing ? Could you get no partner,
child?"

" I shall be most happy in the honour of
dancing with your cousin, Lady Ambrosia/'
said Sir Charles and his companion.

Adelaide blushed, and looked alarmed ;
yet contrived to articulate her thanks " for
their goodness in offering to take the trou-
ble of dancing with her, which she must
decline, since Ladv Celcstina had said it

238

was not a children's ball, and therefore she
must not dance, unless, indeed, she could
find a child to dance with."

" The ill-natured thing P said Lady Am-
brosia; "she well knew there would be no
boy here but Cyrus, who is never per-
mitted to dance, because he mimics the
edd dancers as he capers with them, and
affronts them."

" But who is this fascinating cousin of
yeuis, Lady Ambrosia?" asked Lord Aber-
avon.

" She is the only child of my uncle Mon-
tagu Bouverie, who married an Irish re— —
a — a — to displease the family; so we
are not allowed to be cordial to her. In-
deed,, we have been all taught to hate her ;
and I felt as if I did so yesterday."

" But to-day you don't," said Sir
Charles, smiling.

"Indeed that is true; and to-morrow
I shall not be surprised if I like her very
much, for she is the sweetest tempered
little creature in all. the world : for though
I was led to be ungracious to her, she be-
haved so well to me this evening that I
cau never forget it to her; so I'll go and

239

ask mamma's permission to let her dance,
she is such a good little soul."

Lady Ambrosia hurried away with her
three beaux, not a little exalted in the
opinion of them all ; and scarcely were
they gone when Bouverie seated himself
beside the insulated Adelaide.

" Well, thank Heaven [' he said, "one
of my dances with Lady Cele>tina is ended;
but how do you like a ball, Adelaide?"

" They are very pretty to look at," she
replied ; " but I cannot speak of their fas*
cinations from experience, since this is the
first real ball I ever was at; and only foi
you, Montagu, I should have found my-
self very uncomfortable at it."

At this moment a summon arrived from
Lady Celestina to Bouverie to join the
dancers; and scarcely had he reluctantly
complied, when Lady Ainbrojsia and her
train returned to tell Adelaide her embassy
to Lady Leyburn had been, successless.

" Ambrosia !•" exclaimed Lady Leyburn
sternly, now advancing, " why do you
thus play truant from your duty as a
dancer? Sir Charles, and Mr. Clayton, I

240

want to introduce you to very charming
partners."

" But, mamma," said Lady Ambrosia,
led to persevere in kindness to her cousin,
since it had already drawn forth commend-
ation for her amiability from her attend-
ant beaux, " I cannot endure leaving
poor Adelaide here, like a bird, alone."

" She can go to bed then,3' answered
Lady Leyburn with asperity, her natural
enmity augmented to the child of Ellen
by the admiration she unequivocally ex-
cited. " If she is to be made a fuss with,
I shall not permit her to appear another
evening*"

Tears started to the beautiful eyes of
Adelaide; and, terrified at her haughty
aunt, she tremulously said to her cousiu,
u I had better go now to bed."

" Not yetv my love!" said Lord De More-
land, emerging from a station behind Lady
Leyburn, where, amid a group of ladies, he
had escaped the observation of his sister,
or the party she was distressing, yet had
heard her unkind ness to the gentle Ade-
laide.

241

Lady Leyburn was electrified by his
lordship's appearance, so unexpected there;
and in consternation at the tenderness of
his tone to Adelaide, and at apprehension
of his having heard her unkindness, could
scarcely command her usual self-posses-
sion to address him.

" Oh ! my lord," she exclaimed, * this
is, indeed, a most unexpected happiness.
I thought you feared the heated atmo-
sphere of a ball-room, and did not mean to
honour us with your company to-night ?"

" This, my attraction hither, will lead
me to brave many an unpleasant encounter,
as well as that of a heated atmosphere,"
said Lord De Moreland, taking Adelaide's
hand, and pressing her tenderly to his
bosom ; for the unkindness he had heard
addressed to her had aroused his indolence
to resentment, and determined him at
once no more to fear the jealous teazing
and violence of Lady Leyburn ; but to
secure at once the kindness and respect
of the world for the child of his beloved
brother, by no longer veiling his own pa-
rental feelings towards her.

The menaced interest of Lady Leyburn

VOL, i. m

<242

blanched her cheeks, even visibly through
her rouge, with dismay, and placed the
fetter of silence upon her lips; while Ade-
laide only by a resolute struggle could
suppress the rising tears of gratitude, and
tender feelings sensibly affected.

" Who is your partner, my own child V*
said Lord De Moreland. " I anticipate
much paternal pleasure in seeing you
dance, my Adelaide."

Lady Ley burn's dismay increased; and
Adelaide's emotion from feeling was not
diminished.

<( Had my wish been gratified," said Sir
Charles, gracefully bowing, " I should now
have the honour of announcing to your
lordship that I had the happiness of being
Miss Bouverie's partner; but, from Miss
Bouverie's Youth, the boon of her hand
has been withheld from every candidate."
" As I now am here to exonerate every
one from the trouble of answering for my
niece, I can now grant the boon of her
hand to you, Sir Charles, as a partner in
dancing, if not too late for your other en-
gagements," said his lordship.

Adelaide clung to her uncle's arm, and

243

looked so terrified at the idea of going to
join such a formidable set of strangers,
with a stranger for a partner, that Lord
De Moreland promptly conjecturing the
cause of her emotion, made her excuses
to the handsome baronet.

" And in pity to this juvenile bashful-
ness/' continued his lordship, smiling,
u we must, with your permission, allow
her to make her debut here as a votary of
Terpsichore with an old friend. You shall
dance with Montagu first, my love; and
then, if Sir Charles Longuiville will con-
descend to think longer of so young a
partner, you will be happy to fulfil an en-
gagement with him."

Sir Charles politely acquiesced in his
lordship's arrangements for his niece, and
then attended the highly alarmed Lady
Leyburn in puisuit of the partner she had
promised him ; and Montagu, catching a
glimpse of his lordship through a momen-
tary vista made by the moving throng, ef-
fected a temporary escape from Lady Ce-
lestina to pay his compliments to him.

" I want my child to join in the general
amusement," said his lordship. '•* When

M 2

244

can you dance with her, Montagu, since
her timid fears will not oyerpower her if
you are her partner?"

" The next set I can be her devoted,"
replied Bouverie, smiling.

"The next set, you know, you are to
dance with Lady Serapbina/' said Ade-
laide, timidly.

M I have not asked her for any set,
meaning to dance no more this night," re-
plied Bouverie; "but since you are to be
my dear little partner, Adelaide, with plea-
sure I shall rescind from my determination,
which was formed for the gratification of a
tSte-a-tSte with you, to rove through, in
imagination, our old haunts once more to-
gether."

Bouverie was now again summoned by
the impatient Lady Celestina, when Lord
De Moreland seating himself and niece in
a conspicuous place, that all might observe
his attention to her, he entered into con-
versation with her.

" A complaint has this evening reached
me, through my valet, from your nurse, of
your cruel separation," said his lordship.
"She shall be restored to you, my Ade-

laide, to-morrow ; for I shall order apart-
ments to be appropriated to yourself, where
I can visit you when I please, and not, as
to-day, be foiled in all my attempts to see
you."

Lord Ley burn now approached with an
adulating message from his mother to his
uncle relative to the injudicious seat he
had chosen, liable to a current of air from
open windows in the antichamber.

" I thank your mother, but 1 feel no in-
convenience here," said his lordship. " And
permit me to announce to you, Lord Ley-
burn, that I have discovered those letters
relative to an honourable, aspersed man,
which Montagu mentioned this day after
dinner; and it is my command that to-mor-
row you attentively peruse them, and learn
from them henceforth to treat with rever-
ence a name that does honour to human
nature."

Lord Leyburn, overwhelmed with con-
fusion, slunk away, and Lady Leyburn
was foiled iu her effort to remove her bro-
ther from the side of Adelaide ; for his
lordship continued earnestly to talk to her,
although, from having had proof of the

246

susceptibility of her feeling, he forbore
then to explain to her what letters he al-
luded to in his address to Lord Leyburn.

•I

For they were all the letters which her
grandfather Bellenden had ever addressed
upon the subject of politics to the traitor
Murrough Mac Dermot, seized with all
that rebel's papers at the time of his at-
tainder and execution, in the late rebellion
of his deluded countrymen ; and which not
only completely exonerated St. Leger Bel-
lenden's fame from every imputation of
disloyalty, but proved him an individual
who merited the homage of every sincere
lover of their Creator, their king, their
country : which letters the Irish govern-
ment, with a most just and noble confes-
sion of their own misconception of a cha-
racter so inestimable, enclosed to the late
Lord De Moreland, as head of the family
the child of the aspersed Bellenden had
married into, but who, from the infirmities
of his advanced age, never made the exer-
tion of inspecting them; and too probably
our young heroine had never known the
gratification of having her grandfathers
character justly appreciated, had not Mon-

247

tagu Bouverie learned the circumstance in
Egypt, from the very gentleman who had
been deputed by the Irish government to
deliver these letters to her great-grandfa-
ther.

Montagu Bouverie lost no time in mak-
ing known this circumstance to the present
lord, whose indolence led him to procrasti-
nation in his search for these documents,
until he caught alarm that day after dinner
from the manner Montagu expressed his
indignation at some unjustifiable liberties
taken with the name of St. Leger Bellen-
den by Lord Ley burn ; an alarm which led
his lordship to a successful search the mo-
ment he arose from table.

Montagu's impressed service ended, he
flew on the wings of alacrity to claim his
voluntarily chosen partner, and took his
station by her and Lord De Moreland un-
til the commencement of the first dance of
this set called him and his young favourite
to join the votaries of Terpsichore.

Adelaide, trembling in alarmed timidity,
joined the dancers; but soon the kindness
and vivacity of her lively and attentive

£48 •

partner lulled her apprehensions, t\nd re-
stored her own animated spirits to her bo-
som ere she was to commence her lively
career, which she did as the light zephyr
playing in the summer breeze ; when with
all the fond rapture of parental pleasure her
uncle attended her through her perform-
ance, to gaze at her as she, unconscious of
any thing but her own amusement, was at-
tracting the eye of universal admiration or
of envy.

i "Adelaide," said Lord De Moreland,
when she arrived at the bottom of the set
with her attractive partner, " how did you
contrive to acquire the art of dancing in
so finished a style at the village of Sea-
view ?"

The beautifully moulded cheeks of Ade-
laide were instantly suffused with the
brightest tinting of modesty's vermilion,
as she unvauntingly answered —

" The celebrated Mademoiselle Hilles-
berge spent part of every summer, for the
last three years, at Seaview, for her health ;
and who considering herself under incalcu-
lable obligations to my guardian for his

M9

advice, which essentially benefited her,
she took me foe a pupil, and was very in-
defatigable in her instructions; since that
way she promptly saw, my lord, would be
the most acceptable one to my guardian
of evincing her gratitude."

Lord De Moreland and Bouverie now
entered into an earnest conference relative
to Adelaide, when Cyrus taking this op-
portunity of their attention being with-
drawn from his cousin to accost her —

" Now is my time, my gentle coz," he
said, " for my revenging your cause upon
the thief who robbed you of your pretty
clothes. See her there, the nursery babe,
with her group of Strephons telling her as
many whappers about her beauty as would

sicken the very d 1 ; so now is the nick

of time for me to go and tell her that her
broad shoulders have burst open her bor-
rowed plumes."

" Oh ! pray do no such ill-natured thing,
I conjure you !" exclaimed Adelaide, in
alarm.

" Will you give me a kiss if I oblige
you?"

" Oh! I'll give you a pound of kisses

MS

250

when I can get them from the confection-
er's for you," returned Adelaide, blushing,
while she affected to misconceive his mean-
ing.

" What, in the name of Jove's own nec-
tar, Cyrus," exclaimed Bouverie, " can you
be in treaty for that merits such sweet re-
compence?"

" Why this young rose here, who puts
out a new leaf at every word that is said
to her, won't allow me to treat Ambrosia's
cheeks with a visit of a stranger blush,
just in revenge for their taking this girl's
best clothes from her, and dressing Ambro-
sia out in them."

" But, you know, it was the nursery,
maids who did it; and therefore why should
you hurt the feelings of your sister, Master
Ley bum?" said Adelaide, eagerly.

u Gyrus," said Bouverie, impressively,
*' if you have no regard for the feelings
of your sister, I have for those of Miss
Bouverie, and her noble, generous heart
shall not be pained by your contumacy ;
and if you had a particle of sensibility in
your composition, your cousin's conduct,
in this very instance, would fill your heart

251

with the warmest glow of fraternal affec-
tion for her."

The hour for supper at length arrived,
when Lady Leyburn, for once kind to
Adelaide, permitted neither her or Lady
Ambrosia to sit up to partake of it ; and
therefore from the ball-room they pro-
ceeded to the nursery for repose.

2.52

CHAPTER XIII.

Lady Leyburn had too many themes for
perplexing cogitations for sleep to occupy
any part of the time she remained in bed.
An entanglement, which she had suffered
love and interest to draw her into, between
a handsome, young, dissipated officer, and
Mr. Blackthorn, her chaplain, the tool of
her mining machinations ; — her brother's
alarming predilection for the obnoxious
Adelaide, so menacing to all her high
erected castles of ambitious structure ; by
turns agitated her mind, and engrossed
her serious meditation upon her mode of
action relative to each subject.

Upon every one her own interest was the
actuating adviser of determination ; and in
conformity with the suggestions of that
leading influence of all her actions, she re-
solved to shape a new course with Adelaide.
She now perceived, that by treating her with
unequivocal unkindness and contempt she
had erected her into an object of enthusi-
astic pity for Bouverie to. commiserate, and

953
«

Lord De Moreland to pacify and indulge :
she would now, by one master stroke of
generalship, destroy that interest she had
injudiciously awakened ; by drawing her
into intoxicating notice, and by attracting
observation round her, discover all her ig-
norance and faults ; and through the over-
whelming tide of insidious adulation wreck
every amiable propensity upon the shoals
of frivolity and levity, and bereave her by
such manoeuvring of every pretension to a
greater share of her uncle's estimation than
her own daughters could claim.

Thus diabolically disposed towards the
orphan Adelaide, Lady Leyburn emerged
from her chamber the morning after the
ball to attend an appointment with Lord
De Moreland, in which, although her heart
was stung to maddening pangs of wounded
ambition and avarice by the affectionate
manner in which his lordship spoke of his
brother and his orphan child, she acqui-
esced with the semblance of cordiality to
every arrangement he made for Adelaide's
establishment at Roscoville.

This conference ended, Lady Leyburn
gladly left her brother's presence to give

254

new orders to her children, her satellites,
and the domestics, for their conduct to
Miss Bouverie, for whom, in insidious re-
spect (since Lord De Moreland had order-
ed distinct apartments from the nursery
for), she commanded the most magnificent
suit in the ahbey to be prepared ; even
those in which the late lord had so re-
cently breathed his last, and which had
not been occupied since his decease.

Soon after his lordship's conference with
Lady Leyburn, Adelaide was summoned to
attend her uncle, who, in conformity with
the parental part he had aroused himself
from his habitual supineness to perform by
her, now wished to develop how far her
education had been attempted.

His lordship was a perfect master of lan-
guages, and by no means deficient in classic
lore ; for although he hated the exertion of
action, he often took the trouble of read-
ing, and even studiously ; so that he was
perfectly adequate to the task of examining
into Adelaide's progress in mental acquire-
ments : and with anxiety which allowed
not of a superficial inquiry he entered se-
riously into every subject; and after two

Z55

hours of minute investigation of her intel-
lectual cultivation, his lordship pronounced
in a tone of parental gratification — -

" Mr. Falkland has indeed performed a
father's part — he has not been idle."

" Mr. Falkland, my lord," said Adelaide,
with tears of mingled gratitude and affec-
tion drawn to a trembling station in her
radiant eyes — " Mr. Falkland is never idle,
whilst he can find a fellow being to be-
nefit.,,

" From the manner in which he has
reared you, my child, he has proved him-
self both a good and a clever man ; and I
do not withhold from you a large portion
of my approbation, Adelaide, for the dili-
gence you have evinced in acquiring those
valuable attainments your guardian's good-
ness led him to bestow upon you : but I am
not fond of giving very great praise to ju-
venile candidates for commendation, since
it is too prone to inspire young hearts with
vanity, reared on the supposition of supe-
rior talents in themselves.

" In you, Adelaide, I have yet disco*-
vered no symptom of this vanity in its as-
sociate affectations, and I am going to put

256

its absence from your bosom to the test,
my child. I would have you loved at Ros-
coville, not envied. Will you in your in-
tercourse with the society here, to oblige
me, conceal as much as possibility will ad-
mit of (without affecting ignorance) the
attainments you have made — the accom-
plishments you excel in?"

" The little attainments I have, through
the patient exertion of Mr. Falkland, made,
my lord," replied Adelaide, timidly, " he
has always told me were for my own indi-
vidual use and advantage, and not for
public exhibition ; for if it was not so, I
must dedicate my whole life to seience,
studying like a professor, or in obtruding
the little I could in possibility ever know
into notice, I should lead to the detection
of the shallowness of my acquirements;
and as to accomplishments, my lord, I
excel in none. Mr. Falkland has not yet
permitted my voice to be exercised in
singing ; I am only a shabby practitioner
at the piano- forte yet ; I can contrive in
drawing to make it a matter out of doubt
whether I have attempted a figure or a
landscape ; and as to dancing, that I have

257

exhibited here, and I am afraid, such as it,
my lord, that of all my accomplishments it
is the only one I ought not to shrink from
a display of. It is therefore, my uncle, no
great sacrifice of vanity in me to keep the
little I do know in the shade of that retire-
ment best suited to it."

Lord De Morelancl expressed himself
infinitely pleased with the point of view
her guardian had taught her to consider
her information in, and with her, for her
ready and modestly arrayed acquiescence
in his request; and desiring her to take
the books she wished for from the library
at any time, he rang the bell, and ordered
his curricle.

" You may come with me, my Adelaide,
if you like it — and so may Ambrosia, since
she seems partially disposed towards my
child," said his lordship, tenderly embrac-
ing this rapidly increasing favourite.

Adelaide was flying off upon her embassy
to Lady Ambrosia, when suddenly recol-
lecting Cyrus was full as kind to her as
his sister, she stopped to tell her uncle so,
that he might also be taken to his lordship's

2S8

favour for it; and while she yet was speak,
ing, Bouverie entered.

" Cyrus and you seem mighty friends/'
said Bouverie, gravely.

Adelaide smiled, and blushed, and flew
away on her mission to her cousin, and to
equ'p for her airing.

"But why," said his lordship, in the
moment succeeding Adelaide's departure,
V why did you look so grave, Montagu, at
the idea of my Adelaide's amity with Cy-
rus ? From her account of him, the boy
seems to have really some goodness of
heart "

V That I firmly believe," replied Bouve-
rie, rapidly twirling a chair on the axis of
one of its legs, to conceal a conscious em-
barrassment in his air, which he feared
might be visible to his guardian; "but
my gravity, my lord, I acknowledge was
founded on absurditv. I — I do not wish
Adelaide to commence a friendship for any
boy so near her own age as Cyrus; because
I — I have rather romantically, your lord-
ship will say, set my heart upon seeing her
united to — to a — my brother. It has been

269

long, you know, my favourite project; but
since she came to Roscoville it occupies so
many of my speculating visions, that it
absolutely draws my thoughts from every
other theme. Ji

tt Indeed I" said Lord De Moreland,
endeavouring to suppress a smile. " Why
what an incomparable brother you are, to
dedicate your every thought to speculating
for the happiness of Theodore ! But sup-
pose, dear Montagu, he should disappoint
your fraternal arrangements, and not agree
with you in liking Adelaide?"

" Why then I would sentence him to
the cell of the anchoret, as a clod without
a heart!" exclaimed Bouvene, enthusias-
tically.

" The child is certainly pretty, and her
manners fascinating," said Lord De More-
land.

" Fascinating, in very truth ; yet so un-
conscious of her perfections," returned

Bouverie, " that But you are going out

in your curricle, my lord : I, having no
curricle, cannot offer my services in tak-
ing one of your lovely nieces from incom-

260

modingyou ; but may I not attend you on
your airing, an escort a cheval ?"

" Since you seem so much to like the
idea of an airing," said Lord De More*
land, again suppressing an arch smile,
" suppose you take the reins for me, and
drive these urchins a round of a dozen
miles. I think it will do my child good,
after her unusual reveillon.

u But mind you do not in }rour drive,
Montagu, turn the head of my Adelaide
by any allusions to her attractions, mental
or personal. She is at present inartificial
in all her thoughts and actions. An hum-
ble child of artless ndivetS I brought her
hither : I cannot endure the idea of send-
ing her from me ; and yet here I expose
her to the pernicious poison of example,
and may have her transformed into a
baby flirt, like that brat Ambrosia, whom
my blood boiled at last night to see her
languishing airs, her studied lures for at-
tracting, and to hear her keep up a running
fire of coquetish artillery, whilst I knew in
my heart her mind was as uncultivated as
the Arabian deserts. Now my Adelaide, in

261

the simplicity of nature's child, and adorn-
ed with the retiring modesty of youthful
innocence, is my delight ; a character so
new, so rare, that I would transfix her,
such as she is, to refresh, to regale the
senses satiated by affectation, boldness,
and frivolity; and do not you, I implore
you, Montagu, while you appreciate this
darling work of unsophisticated nature, by
a word or look of flattery's pernicious in-
cense, aid in blighting a blossom of such
promising sweetness."

Bouverie, as anxious as Lord De More-
land for Adelaide's remaining the unso-
phisticated child of fascinating naivete she
then was, readily promised not to aid in an
attempt to spoil her; and scarcely had he
done so, when the object of all this solici-
tude returned with her beautiful cousin.

Bouverie took his young companions q,
most beautiful excursion ; and Adelaide,
through knowing him from her earliest
days, felt not that timid bashfulness be-
fore him which operated upon her retiring
reserves in the presence of strangers : and
now all enthusiastic gratitude to him for
bringing the purification of her grandfa-

tlier's loyalty to public knowledge, added
to her lively recollection of all her other
obligations to him, her natural spirits ebul-
liated into full expansion; and in the live-
liness of her fancy she was so animated, so
playful, yet so interestingly gentle in even
the wildest sallies of her innocent vivacity,
that Bouverie was more than ever charm-
ed ; whilst Lady Ambrosia, generally vapid
when not surrounded by adulators, and ra-
ther inclining to pensiveness, in coveted
contemplation of the manifold fascinations
of Lord Aberavon, remarked to Bouverie
" how widely different was the Adelaide of
the ball-room to the Adelaide of the cur-
ricle."

"Last night," added her ladyship, "you
did nothing but blush and seem alarmed at
every one who looked at you, and answer-
ing those who spoke to you in faltering ac-
cents, scarcely to be heard. Now you talk
as fast as Bouverie himself, and are even
more funny and ridiculous than he is.
What is the meaning of it?"

"Why," said Adelaide, "I suppose a
ball-room is not my element, and that air
is ; so while 1 am frisking through it with

263

a friend whom I have known from my
earliest days I feel more happy."

" More happy ! Dear, how odd ! I
should have thought, as you had never
been at a ball before last night, that you
would have been intoxicated with delight?1'

"Perhaps I was so," answered Adelaide,
smiling. H Inebriation affects people dif-
ferently, I have heard. Some it exhila-
rates, some it maddens, and some it stu-
pifies."

At length the circumscribed round was
terminated, and the curricle trio returned
to Roscoville : Adelaide in high raptures
with her excursion, and Bouverie in full
conviction that her mental excellence
v/ould not easily be subverted.

At the time appointed by Lady Ley-
burn for her daughter to emerge from the
nursery this evening, Adelaide accompa-
nied her to the drawing-room, where a
very large party of inmates were assem-
bled ; some engaged at cards, and some
deriving entertainment from professional
and amateur performers of the highest
musical abilities, who at the harp or piano

264

forte exercised their talents: when, after
one strain of surpassing harmony, which
had fascinated every listening ear, Lady
Leyburn, judiciously for her own politics,
desired Adelaide " to favour the company
with her musical exertions to entertain
them.*'

Lord De Moreland seldom made his ap-
pearance in the drawing-room after din-
ner, upon account of his delicate health ;
but he was there this evening, and awaited
in anxious expectation to learn how Ade-
laide would conduct herself.

UI am sorry, Madam," replied the
blushing child, timidly, " I cannot obey
your ladyship ; since I yet know too little
of music to make my attempts before any
one but my instructors."

<c You amaze me I" exclaimed her lady-
ship, elevating her finely arched eyebrows
in surprize:" not play well enough yet! !
— But you can sing?"

" No, Madam."

"What! have you no voice? How
terrible!"

" Mr. Falkland, Madam, does not ap-

265

prove of my voice being yet called into
exertion," replied Adelaide, provokingly
blushing to yet more striking loveliness.

cc And who is to teach you when this
absurd interdict is removed, my love?"
demanded her ladyship, in affected tones
of interest.

" Mrs. Falkland, Madam."

c< Mrs. Falkland, my love ! — What can
make her competent to the task? — Was
she a music mistress, or a teacher at a
school ? an actress, or what this worthy
a-po-the-cary married ?"

" Mr. Falkland, Madam, married the
oaly child of General Aspenfield," replied
the timid Adelaide, now roused to audible
and firm articulation by indignant, wound-
ed gratitude, " the niece of Lord Aspen-
field, and, by the maternal side, of Sir
Rupert Danvers."

"What!" exclaimed Lord De More-
land, starting from his seat, and almost
flying to a chair by Adelaide, " was Mrs.
Falkland the beautiful Rosalind Aspen-
field ?"

" Indeed she was, my lord."

" I know her intimately, and know her

vol. r. n

266

to be one of the most perfectly elegant
and accomplished young women in exist-
ence. I met with her in Italy; and her
talents I well remember, for they are of
the first order, and cultivated to perfec-
tion; therefore I congratulate you, my
Adelaide, and call you a fortunate girl to
obtain such instructors as Mr. and Mrs,
Falkland."

The succeeding day was Sunday, when
Adelaide, disappointed in all her expect-
ations of a public performance of her
sacred duties, was just preparing to be offi-
ciating priestess for herself and nurse in
her own apartment, when she received a
summon from her uncle to his library, to
form one of a little congregation he had
assembled there, consisting of himself and
Bouverie, with their own immediate do-
mestics, for his lordship's health was too
delicate to allow him to venture to church
in wet weather y and Bouverie absented
himself, to perform as chaplain to Lord De
Moreland, who, through his long residence
abroad, had not one belonging to his own
establishment, and who recoiled from the
idea of requesting the services of Mr. Black*

267

thorn, since prayers pronounced by him, he
firmly believed, would only prove an insult
to the Deity.

This sacred duty ended, Lord -Be More-
land desired Adelaide to remain awhile
with him and Montagu ; when, both find-
ing her each passing moment become
more interesting to their affection, they
would not let her leave them until she was
summoned to attend the nursery dinner.

This evening, as on the preceding one,
Lady Ambrosia and Adelaide, attended by
one of the governesses, visited the draw-
ing-rooms ; where, to our young novice's
surprise, she beheld card-tables laid in
readiness ; and soon after, to her infinite
horror, she saw them surrounded, and par-
ties formed ; when, in all the simplicity of
her heart, she flew to Bouverie, and lowly
whispered—

"They forget it is Sunday; and see,
they are gone to cards ! How frightened
they will be when they recollect them-
selves !"

" They always forget it is Sunday, and
never recollect themselves," replied Bou-
verie, gazing with delight upon the ex-

n2

268

pression of amazed horror her eloquent
countenance pourtrayed. u You will find
no alteration in the amusements of Sunday
evenings. it F*oscoville from those of any
other in the week, except that there is no
regular ball given on this day."

" But you don't play cards on Sundays,
Montagu?" said Adelaide, in a tone of
deep interest and alarm.

" I seldom play cards any day, Adelaide,
and assuredly never on this day," replied
Bouverie, looking with such unequivocal
admiration upon her, that the observing
Ladies Leyburn, in high alarm, called
him to execute some promptly thought of
service for them.

" That little apothecary, I begin to sus-
pect/' exclaimed Lady Seraphina, as he
approached her, " has contrived to give
you some powerfully operating philter; for
now one cannot command even the com-
mon civilities of urbanity from you, she
so exclusively monopolizes your atten-
tion."

" The filter of nature's refining process,
which has given to her a mind pure as 5
translucent innocence, is Adelaide]? chafnV

269

for awakening love ; and so powerfully her
witchery operates, that I cannot but won-
der the susceptibilities of your ladyship's
affectionate heart can have remained so
long invulnerable to such fascinating in-
fluence, " replied Bouverie haughtily; his
bosom glowing with resentment, awakened
by the sneer at Adelaide.

Bouverie performed the services assigned
him by these enamoured sisters with the
most frigid stateliness ; and then resumed
his station by the little apothecary, deter-
mined no sneer or innuendo should give her
invidious cousins the triumph of with-
drawing his attentions from her; nor
could all their manoeuvering through the
evening call him from the side of Ade-
laide to join in any of the varied amuse-
ments devised to beguile time, since the
presence of Lord De Moreland prevented
their usual resource of acting a play, or
dancing reels and waltzes.

270

CHAPTER XIV.

The three succeeding clays were passed by
Adelaide most uncomfortably, through the
wiles of the diabolical Lady Ley burn, art-
fully drawing her into notice, to intoxi-
cate her by the pernicious cup of flattery;
but vain were all her subtile lures to se-
duce our young heroine into the toils of
vanity, which were so judiciously spun,
they were imperceptible to Lord De More-
land and to Montagu ; but upon the sus-
ceptible Adelaide they promptly and pain-
fully operated, since the adulation she was
assailed by oppressed her timidity, and
taught her only to droop her head in tor-
tured bashfulness, and to wish more ar-
dently for the moment kin which she could
escape from attentions and strains so new
to her.

Another morning dawned in dread to Ade-
laide, as another day of oppressive adula-
tion from the satellites of Lady Leyburn,
when, to her infinite joy, her uncle invited
her and Montagu to accompany him on a

271

long round of visits, which detained them
some hours from Roscoville ; but at length
they returned, and Bouverie, on the mo-
ment of their arrival, being called off to
inspect a horse for Lord Leyburn, Ade-
laide alone attended her uncle to his
library ; where on the table lay several
letters, which had been delivered during
his lordship's absence. One with the post-
mark of Seaview he first opened, and pre-
sented the happy Adelaide with an affec-
tionate and beautiful letter from her guar-
dian ; and so absorpt was she by her feel*
ings of gratitude and delight, she observed
not the motions of her uncle, until she
heard a direful groan burst from his bo-
som ; when, as her spontaneously attract-
ed eye turned in anxiety upon him, it was
to behold him fall senseless on the ground,
with an open letter grasped in his hand.

The shrieking Adelaide first flew to the
bell, to summon, by a loud peal, assist-
ance< — then to her uncle, whose neckcloth
she instantaneously untied ; and then, in
promptly active judgment, took the letter
from his lordship's now relaxing hand, and
placed it, as a secure asylum from inspec-

£72

tion, in her own palpitating bosom, ere the
emphatic summon of the bell, aided by her
own piercing shriek, drew some of the
alarmed domestics, with Mr. Blackthorn,
thither.

Every thing now was done by the weep-
ing Adelaide and the domestics to effect
the recovery of his lordship , while Mr.
Blackthorn overwhelmed Adelaide with a
torrent of impertinent questions, relative
to what could have occasioned her uncle's
swoon ; }'et with so little feeling respect-
ing his lordship himself, that her wounded
affection led her to persevere in the taci-
turnity of the dumb.

" Oh !" he at length exclaimed, on per-
ceiving Falkland's letter, which had fallen
from Adelaide's hand to the ground, in her
first moment of alarm, " it was the perusal
of this letter which subdued his senses;
and it is expedient Lady Leyburn should
read it, to act with proper caution upon
his lordship's revival :" and off he flew
with what he believed a momentous spoil.

Lord De Moreland began to evince
symptoms of returning respiration ,* and
his advancement in recovery became

273

so rapid, that soon was perceptible to
Adelaide his eager look around for
some object of his almost agonizingly
anxious search; when she softly whis-
pered him —

" The letter you were reading, when
taken ill, my uncle, is safe in my bosom,
unseen by any one."

Lord De Moreland emphatically pressed
her hand ; and whilst he beamed on her a
smile of gratitude, his bosom heaved deep
sighs, which seemed almost to rend it 3 and
at this moment Bouverie rushed into the
room-

tc I will answer the eloquent anxiety of
these looks myself, dear Montagu, " said his
lordship ; " I am nearly recovered — indeed
quite myself again ; therefore all my good
friends may now depart, and leave me to
the sole care of my Adelaide ; whilst you,
dear Montagu, go to Lady Ley burn, tell
her I am quite well, and prevent her com-
ing hither, if such is her intention -, but do
you return to me."

" And bring with you, if you can re-
cover it for me," said the once more smil-
ing Adelaide, " my dear guardian's letter,

n5

274

which Mr. Blackthorn decamped with, mis-
taking it for some other."

The instant his lordship was alone with
Adelaide she restored him his letter, with
an apology for having secured it, through
her belief that from the effect it had caus-
ed it ought not to be left for the eye of
curiosity to pry into.

His lordship gratefully kissing her, took
the letter, and, with convulsive agitation
that nearly again subdued him, perused it
to the end ; when, in dreadful agitation, he
said —

"Adelaide, my love! I have now a pro-
mise to exact from you : by the discretion
you discovered in the moment of alarm —
by the regard for me, evinced so forcibly
in your interest for what concerned me, I
feel assured I may place reliance on your
faith. — Will you, then, promise me never to
disclose to any individual that it was the
perusal of a letter which operated with
such a dire effect — never to betray the sus-
picions you may entertain of this letter
having any share in influencing any sub-
sequent proceedings of mine?

Adelaide promised, with the simplicity of

275

truth and the firmness of sincerity ; and
the moment she had done so, Bouverie re-
appeared with Falkland's letter in his hand,
which he hastened to explain the cause of
Mr. Blackthorn's taking away, and to an-
nounce " from this officious gentleman's
awakened suspicion, that some letter from
abroad, arrived that day, had caused his
lordship's indisposition, Lady Ley burn,
in defiance of all he could urge to prevent
her, was coming with all a sister's fond
solicitude, to implore a participation in
the calamity or grief that had subdued
him."

" Then I will disappoint her curiosity,
and foil the suggestions of Mr. Blackthorn
too," exclaimed Lord De Moreland, an-
grily. " How dare such a miscreant pre-
sume to form conjectures upon any causes
or effects that operate on me ? Dear Mon-
tagu, ring for Baronello, and lend me your
arm, to assist me to my chamber, where,
I trust, I shall escape the impertinent in-
trusion of interested individuals."

" Adieu, my Adelaide !" continued his
lordship, tenderly kissing her: "I shall

2?6

never cease to remember and appreciate
your goodness to me."

The anxiety of Adelaide for her beloved
uncle led her frequently, this day, to his
chamber-door, to inquire from Baronello
how his lordship did; and to the nursery
dinner she received a formal invitation
from her aunt ; and also, to her infinite sur-
prise, a kind message, to say, " that all the
Hoscoville party were going, in the even-
ing, to see a set of strollers perform a play
in the village, and that her ladyship should
obtain Lord De Moreland's permission for
her dear niece to accompany them."

About half an hour before the party
were to set out for the theatre the nursery
detachment were summoned to the draw-
ing-room, .where Lady Leyburn most grar
ciously received Adelaide.

The carriages were at length announced*
when the general rising of the company t©
envelope in shawls, and take their hats iu
hand, occasioned such a commotion, that
the absence of Adelaide was not perceived*
who was gone to attend the summons of
her uncle; who, having learned Lady Ley-

277

burn was going to the village theatre, had,
secure of no visit from her, ventured to
emerge from his dressing-room, and to *
take his station in the library.

fi I have sent for you, my love ! for the
pleas-ure of again thanking you for your
goodness to me this morning," said his
lordship, the moment she appeared, " and
also to request you will have the further
kindness to read to me. You know I
have already heard yon, my timid child ;
therefore first fears are removed. I am
.not equal to the exertion of reading my-
self, as I feel but very so, so; and I think
the tones of your voice will lure my atten-
tion from thoughts that almost distract
me. I should have sent for Montagu too,
but find he is going to the play."

Adelaide now perceiving by the deject
tion of his lordship's expressive counte-
nance, and the mournful tones of his voice,
that his firmness was indeed subdued by
some direful mental anguish, she instantly/
without one impeding hesitation from her
timidity, opened the page his lordship
pointed to, and began to read with a steady
voice, in her very best manner 5 with the

278

pleasing hope, animating her courage, of
being the humble instrument of beguiling
for even some moments the sorrows of her
uncle.

The wish of Adelaide was realized in
the party setting off to the play without
observing her absence, since the only
persons who bestowed a thought upon her
were carried off by force of arms. Lady
Ambrosia, encircled by two adulating
swains, was borne off to form a trio in a
chaise; and Ladies Seraphina and Cele-
stina, each fastening on an arm of Bou-
verie, led him off to form a party of three
in another, saying, as they hurried him
away —

" You need not stay for your dear sceu-
rette, since mamma has arranged for her to
go with the gouvernantes."

But when the governesses arrived, and
Bouverie saw no Adelaide; when he mus-
tered the whole party, and beheld her not,
he instantly conceived some cruel trick
had been thus devised to wound her
youthful heart, by inflicting disappoint-
ment in the moment pleasure appeared to
be realizing, and seized the first opportu-

279

nitv of p'lidinQ:out of the theatrical barn to
return to Roscoville to seek her, when Ba-
ronello informed him —

" La illustrissima signora is with Mon-
signore"

Bouverie instantly hastened to his lord-
ship's library, filled with a new and painful
alarm ; since he feared Lord De Moreland
was worse, or he would not have detained
poor Adelaide from amusement.

"What ails my dear Montagu?" ex-
claimed his lordship, extending his hand
to Bouverie, the moment of his appear-
ance : u What agitates you thus r"

M Oh ! I feared you were ill again, by
Adelaide not coming to the play."

In answer to the obvious question of
Lord De Moreland, the fact of Adelaide's
relinquishing the play for him transpired;
when his lordship, after gratefully thank-
ing her for this new proof of attachment,
proposed that she should immediately ac-
company Montagu to the theatre; but
against this measure Adelaide earnestly
supplicated and implored not to be sent
from her uncle, while he was so evidently

280

unwell, with all the resistless energy cf
her affectionate heart.

" No : you cannot send her from you;
it is impossible,"" said Bouverie, sensibly
affected by her ; " nor can you send me
from you either, I trust; when, with sin-
cerity equal to Adelaide's own, I request
permission to stay and unite my efforts
with her tender ones to be of service to
you:— -but, alas! I fear our powers will
little avail, since I am apprehensive that
you are ill, seriously ill, my dear lord !"

Bouverie now fixed his expressive eyes>
beaming with affection and pity's tender
anxiety, upon his guardian, whose very
soul seemed penetrated by the look of
Bouverie; on whom he intently gazed,
until the changed expression of his coun-
tenance awakened the most powerful alarm
in Montagu and Adelaide, which was not
decreased, when, in a few subsequent mo-
ments, a deep groan burst from his lord-
ship's bosom. They flew to him ; each
took a hand, which they found chilling as
ice; in a moment more his frame became
convulsed by the contortions of bodily an*

281

guish, and he moaned and writhed in the
direful agony of a perilous malady raging
in his stomach.

Lord De Moreland had lately suffered
considerably from lurking gout; but al-
though he had never suffered thus from it,
Bouverie and Baronello hesitated not to
pronounce it that malady; and, knowing
the imminent danger of such an attack,
sent off express, in every direction, for
medical aid.

In the general consternation and call
for assistance Adelaide summoned her
nurse, who perfectly agreed with her that
the mode in which his lordship was attack-
ed, the way he seemed affected, his very
contortions, and the hue of his com-
plexion, were completely such as they had
often witnessed in poor Martha Drayner ;
for whose instantaneous relief, should he
be out of the way to afford it, Mr. Falk-
lad had instructed every individual in the
family what was to be done for her, and in
the medicine to be administered.

Bouverie was promptly informed by
them of all this. The name of Falkland
stamped on his conviction infallible relief.

282

Adelaide remembered the names and
quantities of every ingredient which com-
posed this medicine: and, writing all down
"with accuracy, Bouverie flew to the stables,
and only waiting to bridle a fleet hunter,
darted off at full speed to the nearest apo-
thecary's ; but, ere he returned with Falk-
land's prescription, the family apothecary
and a surgeon from the neighbouring bar-
racks had arrived : when both, in conster-
nation, affirmed, " that his lordship's last
sand was run, and that no human skill
could save him."

His senses had totally forsaken him
when Bouverie rushed in, and without
deigning a question or word to either of
the medical men present, poured out the
draught, and, by the aid of Obearn and
Baronello, contrived to effect, his lordship's
swallowing it ; by whose revival, in less
than twenty minutes, its efficacy was in-
contestibly proved.

During the terrible dismay that prevail*
ed, whilst death seemed suspended over
Lord De Moreland's head, no one thought
of summoning Lady Leyburn from the
theatre; and when his lordship was suffi-

283

ciently recovered for thought to resume its
action in his mind, he ordered that no in-
timation whatever should be conveyed to
his sister of his indisposition ; <e since he
felt," he said, " that his exhausted frame
required repose, and her presence would be
only productive of unnecessary agitation
to him."

Lady Ley burn, therefore, was not re-
called, and knew nothing of how near she
had been to reap the harvest, or find the
disappointment of all the long train of
mining policy she had toiled to lay for
the gratification of her avarice; and by
the time she returned from the play his
lordship was settled in his bed for the
night, and every arrangement made for
his care and comfort; more of the infalli-
ble medicine procured; and Bouverie, the
family apothecary, with Baronello and
Obearn, whose presence as the high priest-
ess of that oracle of Apollo, Mr. Falkland,
neither his lordship or Bouverie would dis-
pense with, were to sit up to attend their
patient; and poor Adelaide, something
loath, retired to slumber alone in the
suite of immense apartments, and in the

284

very bed too, where her great-grandfather
had so latefy died.

" Nurse," said Adelaide, as she was put-
ting her to bed, " you do not believe in—
in ghosts ?"

" Ghosts, my love ! no, certainly; but
what could put it into your head to think
about such things?"

" Why, I dreamed once, when I was
quite a child though, that I saw the ghost
of an old man."

" Well, my love! and, like Giles Scrog-
gins, when you awoke you found it but a
dream."

" Certainly I did ; but I shall not dream
of ghosts to-night, my nursey ; since
thinking of the direful agony my dear,
dear uncle suffered, the awful state I saw
him reduced to, will banish sleep. Oh !
how I longed to give him one kiss of pity-
ing affection ere I left his chamber! but
his bed was so high, and so wide, it was as
much as I could do to kiss the hand he ex-
tended to me."

" High and wide, indeed, darling! pret-
ty contrivances for sick people !" exclaim-
ed Obearn, indignantly : " but good night

285

now, my dear, sweet,, precious treasure!
The Almighty will protect you for me
until we meet again : but shall I draw the
curtains round you ?**

" No, thank you, my own kind nursey ;
yet yes, if you please — I think I should
like them drawn at the side next to the
tapestry, lest if a moon-beam should stray
in I might mistake some of the grim
figures for, for — robbers."

Obearn now departed reluctantly, per-
ceiving she had not left her adored nursling
quite comfortable in her solitude, it being
the first time in her existence she had ever
been left to sleep alone in a room. Ade-
laide, however, the moment she was left
to herself, began to exert the firmness of
her mind, and to reason herself out of in-
novating fears, which the recent alarm her
spirits had sustained, and the newness of
her situation, had awakened.

286

CHAPTER XV*

The apothecary, Bouverie, and Obearn,
were all in Lord De Moreland's anti-
chamber when Lady Leyburn, just return-
ed from the theatre, entered in all the
apparent anxiety of an affectionate sister
to make her way to her brother's bedside,
when the previously concerted information
of his lordship's being sunk to rest had the
desired effect of withholding her intrusion.
In the course, now, of her ladyship's
numerous questions relative to how " her
adored Edwin" had been affected ? what
had been done for him ? and the plans
which were yet to be pursued ? she ex-
pressed the most evident pleasure on hear-
ing Obearn was one of the individuals who
was to watch by his lordship.

u That is a most satisfactory arrange-
ment," she said, in a tone ®f joy. — " Ade*
laide you have, of course, put into her old
quarters in the nursery for this night ?"
and not waiting to hear the reply of Obearn,

987

her ladyship rapidly made an excuse for
her prompt departure, and retired.

Adelaide conquered every fear but that
which trembled at her heart for her uncle's
life should a relapse take place, and Mr#
Falkland's remedy not again prove effica-
cious; but even the mental pangs she felt
for him were at length lulled to temporary
rest by a profound sleep, earned by the
exercise she had taken that morning, aided
by the late hour her designing aunt had
permitted her to seek her pillow the three
preceding nights.

So deep was the repose of Adelaide, that
she remained undisturbed by Lady Ley-
burn's entrance, attended by Mr. Black-
thorn, from whose recognition the drawn
curtains concealed her; and not conceiv-
ing any child of her age could have been
endowed with sufficient courage to rest
there alone* security of her absence taught
them incaution, and the noise they made
in talking and in their movements at length
dissipated her deep sleep.

The moment Adelaide's slumbers termi-
nated she was wide awake, with every fa-
culty in readiness for action ; therefore no

288

gradual progress towards returning anima-
tion led her to make any movement as she
awoke, and her alert senses secured her
from alarm that could induce a betraying
exclamation.

She therefore distinctly witnessed the
scene she thus awoke to see and hear, and
promptly Mr. Blackthorn murmured out —

" I fear we are upon a false scent. You
know I have already examined this wains-
cot, inch by inch, and could discover no
keyhole."

" Pshaw !" exclaimed her ladyship, u can
you think I do not know my belief to be
well founded ? I am positive, Blackthorn,
the recess is in this identical chamber; and
should death this night carry off my bro-
ther, I shall lose my power of moulding
Montagu to my purposes if I obtain not*
possession of this packet."

" I have examined every compartment
of the mosaic bordering of these curious
pannels, and am, on my part, positive there
is no keyhole here to admit this extraordi-
nary looking key," returned Blackthorn.
" But should your brother tip off to-night,
surely we can contrive to have all the pan-

289

nels taken down and replaced ere this
Montagu takes possession, and routs us."

"Impossible !" answered Lady Leyburn,
u since the recess I am in quest of is con-
structed to deride human skill to penetrate
it, except by means of this key, which my
grandfather thought of such consequence
to preserve, that he constantly wore it sus-
pended to a chain round his neck, from
whence I took it the moment succeeding
his decease ; and both lock and recess I
know to be invulnerable to force."

They now moved away, in their investi-
gation, out of Adelaide's view, impeded by
the curtains, until convinced their scru-
tiny in their present direction was fruit-
less ; when, moving to depart, Mr. Black-
thorn, in amorous dalliance, caught Lady
Leyburn in his arms, who angrily strug-
gling, he exclaimed—

e( Nay, nay, my Lady Leyburn* you
know the conditions upon which I em-
barked in transactions for your interest
which even menace my life. I will have
no struggling, Madam \ you are mine by
compact," And Biacktlurn took, without
repulse, his meditated kiss.

VOL. I. O

290
*
They now departed, leaving the mind of

poor Adelaide in such a tumult of agita^
tion that sleep no more visited her pillow ;
and morning she thought would never ar-
rive until she should tell to Bouverie all
she had heard, that, if he thought it expe-
dient, it might be revealed to her uncle.

Lord De Moreland passed a night devoid
of bodily suffering, and his mental pangs
he concealed from his anxious attendants,
whom all, but Baronello, he sent from him
about five o'clock.

" Baronello," said his lordship, the mo-
ment they were left together, " you must
set about immediate preparations for an-
other expedition to the continent; but
say not one word to mortal upon the sub-
ject. I shall set out to-morrrow at early
dawn for Seaview, from whence I shall
send information to Lady Leyburn of my
projected tour."

The astonished servant remonstrated
against the imprudence of such a measure,
after the late dangerous attack his lordship
had sustained.

" My good and attached Baronello !" said
his lordship, " I may as well die of malady

291

as the mental misery which occasioned that
attack. But I shall go in quest of conso-
lation for my sufferings, and shall have my
Adelaide's prescription with me; beside, I
mean to consult Doctor Falkland ere I quit
Seaview, therefore fear not for me, man :
and now I have formed my resolutions
I think I shall be able to take some rest ;
do you, therefore, retire to seek repose, to
sustain you through the toil of preparation
for our departure. Leave my Adelaide's
medicine near, and entertain no apprehen-
sion at quitting me."

Baronello reluctantly complied.
When Obearn retired to her pillow, she
sunk into so profound a sleep that Ade-
laide arose at seven, and dressed herself,
without awakening her beloved nurse;
when, it being sufficiently light for her
research, she resolved to pass the moments
of Obearn's continued sleep in examining
the pannels round the room ; but ere her
cautious footfalls, fearing to awake her
nurse, bore her many paces, she felt some
hard substance beneath her tread, and hid
amid the high pile of the carpet she found
a gold key, of shape and workmanship so

o2

392

singular, she doubted not its being the
identical key she had seen with her aunt
in the night ; and that, in her degrading
struggle with her libertine coadjutor, she
had chopped it.

Finding this key now stimulated Ade-
laide to persevere in her meditated research
for the talked of keyhole; and, after about
an hour's minute investigation, her accurate
eye discovered one compartment, forming
a ieaf in the mosaic bordering, was a de-
gree larger than those of the other compo-
nent parts ; and instantly, guided by the
suggestion this observation inspired, she
worked her taper ringers upon this leaf
until she found it move, and then with
little difficulty she extracted it from its
station, when with rapture she beheld a
keyhole exactly corresponding with the
wards of the key she had found, but pro-
priety of feeling forbade her exploring fur-
ther : and now, carefully replacing the leaf,
an idea presented itself of JLady Leyburn
missing the key and coming thither to seek
it, ere she had put it out of her power to be
frightened into the restoration of it ; when,
winged with alarm, she promptly glided off

293

to the antichamber of her uncle, to leave a
message with Baronello for Bo uverie, where,
instead of the former, to her infinite sur-
prise and joy she found the latter, anxi-.
ously expecting Baronello to emerge from
his lord's chamber to announce how he did.

Adelaide now, in a lowly whisper, gave.
to the ear of the astonished liouverie the
scene she had witnessed in the night, sup-
pressing only what her delicacy led her to.
conceal so degrading to Lady Ley burn

" And now," s.id Adelaide, when she
had finished her history, " I leave you to
inform my dear uncle of all you think ne-
cessary to impart to him, and to give him
this key."

'• My own, dearly loved Adelaide ! how
well, how surprisingly for your tender years,
you act upon every occasion!" said Eouve-
rie, taking her by both hands, and looking
on her blushing countenance with the most
animated approbation.

At this moment Lord De Moreland, in
his robe de chambre. opened his door : his
lordship started, and so did Bouverie ; but
Adelaide, unembarrassed, flew to her uncle

294

to express her joy at seeing him so well,
when his lordship clasped her in his arms,
and tenderly kissed hers then, giving his
hand to Bouverie, said —

u My beloved, anxious boy ! have you
not been to rest at all, that I find you
here?"

" Oh ! I slept most industriously for two
whole hours, " replied Bouverie ; " and then,
refreshed, and blithe as a bird, I arose, since
staying in my nest after I found I had sleep
sufficient would have been a supereroga-
tion of indulgence."

" You have satisfied me upon that sub-
ject, and now may I question you upon
another ? said his lordship, beaming one of
his ever mournfully impressed smiles. —
t€ Was it in the act of pleading to Adelaide
to preserve her affections for Theodore
that I found you, Montagu ?"

" Indeed, my lord/' replied Bouverie,
blushing, "I was not even thinking of
Theodore at that moment."'

Lord De Moreland felt perfectly con-
vinced this assertion was true; and Bou-
verie proceeded to state what he had been

295

saying to Adelaide at that moment, and
the causes which had called forth his com-
mendation.

Lord De Moreland never had even heard
of the existence of this recess before; so
that, probably, all it contained would have
fallen into the hands of his rapacious sister,
had it not been for the goodness of Provi-
dence in turning the malicious unkindness
of Lady Leyburn, in putting the young
Adelaide to occupy that fear-inspiring
chamber, to a discovery so probably im-
portant: and as Lady Leyburn had an-
nounced, in positive terms, to Mr. Black-
thorn, that only by means of the key could
this mysterious recess be explored, his lord-
ship now determined to remain silent upon
the subject of it to his designing sister un-
til his return from abroad, whither he now
informed his distressed companions he was
about immediately to wing his flight.

" I will leave this important key in the
care of Doctor Falkland for you, my dear
Montagu ; but ere I go hence our Adelaide
shall instruct us both in the secret she has
discovered. My meditated visit to Seaview
I must depute you, my dear Montagu, to

296

announce to Lady Leyburn without delay ;
but let nothing yet transpire to her of my
projected visit to the continent/'

Bouverie executed his guardian's com-
mission, in announcing to Lady Leyburn
her brother's intended departure on the
morrow for Seaview to consult Doctor
Falkland; and although she hailed this in-
telligence with terror, as a sure prognostic
of an immense portion being now secured
to the hateful Adelaide, yet she command-
ed her self-possession sufficiently not to
betray her feelings, which found some dis-
tillations of a tranquillizing balm from re-
flecting that this opportune absence would
yield her time to secure more plunder,
and to complete many of her unfinished
schemes: but great and direful was the
blow she received, stunning to her mining
mischiefs, when on the morrow she disco*
vered seals she could not counterfeit were
placed, ere the departure of her brother, to
her total exclusion from the apartments
lately occupied by Adelaide.

Bouverie had prevailed on Lord De More-
land, in consideration of his delicate healthy
to make it two/ days journey to Seaview,

297

whither he was accompanied by his loved
niece and Montagu in his own travelling
chaise ; Obearn, Baronello, and Lee (Bou-
verie's servant), following in another.

" I hope," said Bouverie, as they were
rapidly approaching the coast of Kent on
the second day of their journey, " that jour
lordship's chamber is kept constantly aired
at De Moreland Castle, or I should very
much fear your sleeping there after your
late attack."

"Why, to own the truth, M replied his
lordship, ft I have so much business to
transact with Doctor Falkland in a short
period, that I should infinitely prefer a
chamber in his house to one in the castle;
but it would be taking a man so much by
surprise to drive up to his door, and, with-
out any preface, ask him to admit one as a
guest, that I cannot think of it."

" My uncle," said Adelaide, " the mo-
ment I heard of your intended visit to
Sea view I wrote to my dear guardian, to
tell him c how ill you had been, and how I
feared your chamber might not be properly
aired, and how I wished he could prevail
on 3*ou to be his guest whilst you remained

o5

298

in Kent ;' and that letter Mr. Falkland re-
ceived at ten o'clock this morning : there-
fore I well know if you will honour my
guardian as his guest, that he will not be
unprepared to receive your lordship in that
hospitable mansion, which my grateful re-
membrance has taught me to believe a ha-
ven of comfort to all who enter it."

w You are a dear, affectionate, attentive
girl, that wind your way through every in-
let to one's heart!" exclaimed his lordship,
gratefully ; " and if Doctor Falkland asks
me to become his guest, I will thankfully
accept his invitation."

As they drew near to Seaview, Bouverie
began, with the delight of memory at-
tached to former scenes, to retrace some
of the haunts of his more juvenile days;
and as they drew nearer yet, to wander
once more, with Adelaide participating in
the reminiscence, through many of their
rambles, and recognize by name each farm,
each house, each hovel.

" And there, by all that is animated/*
Bouverie at length exclaimed, u is Dennis
O'Rourke perched, performing a telegraph
on the summit of Giant's Footstool !"

299

Adelaide now looked to the pinnacle of
the highest cliff, and there beheld the joy-
ful Dennis performing the double duty of
making signal swith a blue handkerchief to
some one in Mr. Falkland's grounds ; while
with a white one, and his hat waving in
the air, he was hailing the return of Ade-
laide and Norah;

As the carriage now wound rapidly round
an angle of this tremendous cliff, which
formed a magnificent feature in the sub-
lime scenery of Seaview, they lost sight of
Dennis, but soon discovered him again
many feet precipitated in his descent, by
the dexterity with which he slid from pro-
jection to projection, where his wooden
leg would not afford him safe footing, yet
which seemed as the feathered heel of Mer-
cury, so swiftly he made his way with it;
and when the carriage arrived at the turn-
pike gate, there stood the almost breath-
less Dennis* with his obeisance en militaire,
ready to present a letter for Lord De More-
land.

His lordship now ordered the carriage to
stop whilst he read his letter; and while he
was employed in doing it, Adelaide almost

300

shook her head off with kind nods at the
delighted Dennis, who received some gra-
cious ones from Bouverie too.

ft I will answer Doctor Falkland's letter
immediately, in person," said his lordship*
with a condescending bow to Dennis ; who
now darted off on his. rapid way across a
short path through the fields.

" This letter," said Lord De Moreland,
as they moved on, " is, thanks to my pro-
vident child, a most kind and polite invita-
tion from Doctor and Mrs. Falkland to
partake of the comforts of their hospitable
mansion during my short stay atSeaview."

"But must it be a short stay?" asked
Adelaide, in a tone so expressive of con-
cern, that it promptly made its effect upon
the heart of his lordship.

" It must, indeed, my child," he said;
" twenty- four hours must be its extent."

ei But that will not be allowing Mr. Falk-
land's abilities fair play, my lord," said Bou-
verie, mournfully*

" My dear Montagu," returned Lord De
Moreland, with a deep groan-clad sigh,
u Falkland cannot cure the malady that
preys hejre!" — and. he. touched his breast.

301

"The torturing pangs of a direful uncer-';
tainty I cannot longer sustain, for I find
my frame sinking beneath the anguish it
inflicts. To-morrow, therefore, my child-
ren, I shall leave you for a very short visit
to the continent, there to end, I trust, the
agony of suspense I am subdued by. When
I know all, however torturing, my fortitude
can rouse to action ; but tossed in the Bis-
cayan gulf of incertitude, that rudder is
denied the power of aiding me."

At this moment the carriage stopped at
the house of Mr. Falkland, whose heart
as eagerly led him to the hall to welcome
his darling ward, as his feelings of respect
placed him there to receive his lordship ;
and where he had the unexpected pleasure
of rinding his cordial reception called for
by a second beloved young friend.

IM Mr. Falkland/' said his lordship, c< I
am not, believe me, going to quarter so
large a force in your mansion of kind hos-
pitality. My attendants have their billets
for the castle."

The hospitality of Falkland, and the con-
sideration of Lord De Moreland, soon made
their amicable arrangements with proper

302

politesse; and Falkland conducted his lord-
ship and Bouverie to the drawing-room^
where Adelaide had anticipated them, and
was still in the embrace of Rosalind when
they entered.

All that was kind, and cordial, and polite,
Lord De Moreland now addressed in his
meeting compliments to Mrs. Falkland,
mingled with the congratulations of sin*
cerity upon the fortunate choice she had
made in her union ; and, next, to Falkland
himself were the effusions of sincerity of-
fered, as his lordship expressed his grateful
sense of the tender care he had taken of the
long insulated Adelaide;, and so fond Lord
De Moreland seemed of this theme, that
after Bouveiie's introduction to Mrs. Falk-
land had taken place, he resumed his ac-
knowledgments to both husband and wife
for their goodness to his orphan child; and
most unwillingly ceased these ebullitions of
his feelings to turn to less interesting sub-
jects, which they now discussed until the
travellers retired to change their attire for
dinner.

Adelaide emerged from her toilet sooner
than any of the party, as she was all impa-

303

tlence to be with her dear guardian and his
Rosalind again ; but ere she returned to the
drawing-room she took a scamper round the
haunts of all the dumb animals, to see how
they did, and peeped in at the kitchen door,
with a nod at Martha, whom she knew was
a fixture there until dinner was cooked.

But not until this round of visits was
paid, and that she had arrived in the hall
on her way to the drawing-room, did she
encounter Dennis, who rushed out of the
dining parlour the moment he heard her
nimble step, and with joy in every look and
tone he exclaimed—

" Och ! welcome, darlingt! welcome to
your people ; for sure we have been mur-
dered with grief for your absence ! Sorrow
blithesome note have the birds in the air
even given us ; the fowls in the hin yard
clapt on their moulting array, and looked,
poor mortals ! as if each day was a rainy
one with them ; the snowdrops and cro-
cusses in your garden seemed to be catch-
ing the blight of grief as they blew ; the
childer at the dunces' academy stud stock
still in their laming; sorrow neigh ha? the

304

poney neighed since you wint, jewel ! Pom-
pey never so much as wagged his tail ; and
dickens a one of ould Nanny Perkins would
die, herself said, until you come back to
close her two blind eyes for her."

" It was, in this case, unlucky Adelaide's
coming home at all, Dennis, my fine fel-
low!" exclaimed Bouverie, laughing, who
now, with Falkland, emerged from the lat- '
ter's study — " for Nanny Perkins would
then live on until doomsday if Miss Bou-
verie never appeared to close her eyes."

" Upon my conscience it's no joke,
Master Bouverie! — but myself axes pardon,
'tis your honour you are now, since you
bear his majesty's commission, and have
stamped that honour, too, with the sterling
mark upon the arms you bore ; and success
to yourself! and good luck too ! for I'll tell
no lie, it was always a noble spirit you had,
and 'tis my friend I would rather be having
you than my foe in battle ; but as to Miss
Adelaide, the darlmgt ! it seemed, your
honour, as if 'twas to the world's end she
was gone, and would never be returning :
gentle and simple, all bemoaning her ab»

sence ; and sorrow wonder at that same,
for herself is the summer sun to the chilled
outcast, the dew of heaven to the droop-
ing flower.,,

11 And your praises, Dennis, are like the
hounds of the chace to the timid hare; for
look how Adelaide, as usual, flies from the
sound of her own eulogium, Bouverie 1"
said Falkland, while with paternal rapture
he gazed up the staircase after the retreat-
ing child of his tender care.

" But how, dear Bouverie ! tell me, and
do not deceive me, did the dear child
conduct herself at Roscoville Vs continued
Falkland, eagerly catching the arm of Bou-
verie, to take a few turns in the hall whilst
his question was answered.

" Why, with such fascinating innocence,
goodness, and propriety, she conducted
herself," said Bouverie, " that nothing un-
der heaven but her extreme youth could
have saved me from falling over head and
ears into the quicksand of enthusiastic love
for the young enchantress."

" I rejoice to hear this," exclaimed Falk-
land, in a tone of rapture.

306

fi What ! To hear of my peril ?'*
" Why, not exactly, perhaps ; but that
my dear elive should have conducted her-
self so well as to awaken such admira-
tion,"

307

CHAPTER XVI.

It was shortly after the elegant dinner of
Mr. Falkland was ended Mr. Mellifont
was announced, who entered, trembling
With agitation.

" Mr. Falkland," he said, " pardon, pray
pardon my intrusion ; but I could not re-
sist it, since I just learned that Bouverie is
here."

Instantly his friend rushed forward, and
was clasped with almost frantic energy to
the ardent bosom of the grateful Mellifont.

For the first moment after this embrace
Mellifont was unable to articulate; but the
next he burst forth, unmindful of Lord De
Moreland's presence —

" My friend ! my friend ! my benefactor !"

" Your friend, most certainly," said Bou"
verie; " but, my fine fellow, the appearance
of this same friend seems to have routed
your senses. Do take the wine Mr. Falk-
land has filled for you. Come, drink, man,
drink, and do not talk wild nonsense any

s

308

more; but tell me how is the dear, worthy
doctor?

" Oh ! Bouverie, call it not wild incohe-
rence my styling you what you are — my
benefactor!" Mellifont exclaimed, with im-
petuosity; "for did you not first awaken
my heart to its dormant sense of honour ?
have you not supported me for the last two
years at school ? and now are you not en-
abling me to pursue my studies to fit me
for the profession I "

"Pshaw! Mellifont! Do tell me about
the Birch's.

" Montagu, have you done all this out
of your moderate means ? ' said Lord De
Moreland.

Bouverie could not utter an untruth ;
but his fine countenance glowed with the
betraying blush of innate benevolence on
the discovery of its goodness, and his eyes
bent to the ground as if they feared to
encounter the glance of approbation; and
Adelaide precipitately arose from her seat
and left the room, afraid that one moment's
longer stay would disclose to all how much
the beauty of beneficence afifected her.

" Since thus you employ the talent com-

3o<r

mitted to your care, I must make it four-
fold ere I depart," said Lord De Moreland,
in a tone of tremulous emotion.

" Twofold will outdo my pretensions to
such liberality, " said Bouverie, gratefully
pressing his lordship's hand. (< Mellifont
paints with glowing colours ; and let not
the flattering array he pourtrays a friend
he loves in allow his partiality to lead
your generous feelings to extravagance "

" Well, my dear! boy when Mr. Melli-
font is more composed we will talk together
without enthusiasm of you, and he shall tell
me of this profession you are preparing him
for; when, perhaps, I may prove a useful
auxiliary:" and his lordsh.p now wishing
to relieve both Bouverie and Mellifont,
turned to Mrs. Falkland, and commenced
an interesting conversation with her.

Falkland and Bouverie now soon suc-
ceeded in drawing poor Mellifont from the
thraldom of his grateful sensibility; al-
though, from the moment of Adelaide's
retreat, the thoughts of Bouverie, however
he rattled to restore the composure of his
friend, were rivetted on her. On his vi-
sion still was reflected the expression of

310

v

her countenance as she fled ; for, in the
midst of his own confusion, he had stolen
a glance at her as she passed him. To de-
fine the effect her retreat in such a moment
had upon his feelings he found impossible ;
but all he could be certain of was an eager
wish that fastened on his heart for her
prompt return.

Lord De Moreland and Falkland retired
to a long conference this evening in the
study of the latter, where, after every thing
relative to his lordship's health was discuss-
ed, prescriptions given, and a handsome fee
presented, Lord De Moreland put an order
upon his banker into Falkland's hands for
the sum of twenty-five thousand pounds,
principal, and ten thousand pounds, inter-
est, for Adelaide's use, as the incontro-
vertible portion of h?r. late father.
. "But," said his lordship, " this is not
to be my dear child's all. Every thing my
honoured father intended for my lamented
brother, his Ellen, and their precious babe,
shall be hers, as soon after my return from
abroad as I can in possibility arrange my,
I fear, most complicated affairs."

Falkland, after gracefully expressing his

311,

thoughts upon the subject of his lordship's
generous conduct to his niece, hastened
explicitly to state the sum of interest he
had accumulated upon his ward's original
portion, which in all made her fortune,
even at that moment, amount, without his
lordship's further addition, to rather more
than forty-five thousand pounds; which he
thought, in perfect unison with her amiable
mother, was full sufficient for any woman
to possess.

Lord De Moreland perfectly coincided
with him in that opinion; but the will of
his father, he said, was too sacred to be
disobeyed.

" Beside," added he, " I fancy it will
prove of little consequence which, she or
Montagu Bouverie, become possessed of
the family wealth ; for, my good Sir, if I
augur truly, what is his will be hers, and
vice versa. It is a/Jiope very dear to my
heart, and I fondly cherish it; but still I
shall never intimate my wish to them, for
all shall be left to their own unbiassed in-
clinations.

"*Yet, Doctor Falkland, without undue
influence exerted over those inclinations, I

312

think I may conscientiously ask the favour
of you to bear this wish of mine in your
remembrance, and where you can, without
inflicting pain in her gentle bosom, draw
my Adelaide from forming any attachment
inimical to it ; but without one betraying
allusion to my wish, lest it might lead her,
through the influence of her fancied duty
to me, to nurture her affections for a man
who, from a combination of mental and
personal charms, aided by the attraction of
being presumptive heir to an earldom, and
in the profession he is embarked in, must
be open to so many allurements of the fair
sex, can scarcely be expected to preserve
through his unavoidable absences his heart
for Adelaide; who now, if only a little more
advanced towards maturity, would, lam
convinced, enchain his affections so firmly
that not all the witchery of her sex could
draw him from her.

" But as it is, and that my hope has its
overthrow to apprehend from their inevita-
ble separations, may I entreat a still greater
favour in forbearance of you ? May I ask
you to keep my dearly cherished hope a
secret from your wife also ? Well do I re-

313

member the fascinating vivacity of Rosa-
lind Aspenfield, ere you raised the gloom of
hopeless love to cloud it. That mist is
now dispersed by the sunbeams of her hap-
piness ; and may I not fear, when the time
shall come for Adelaide to be wooed, when
admirers swarm around my lovely flower
(as swarm they will, where beauty, talent,
sweetness, birth, and immense wealth com-
bine), that, in moments of badinage, in arch
raillery at coldness to some ardent suitor,
your lively Rosalind may not allude to
Montagu as the cause; may not by a word,
an innuendo, betray my wish ; when eittier
the delicacy of my child's sensitive nature,
shrinking from the suspicion of cherishing
love unsought, might chill her heart to-
wards Bouverie; or lead her in the chain of
duty to preserve it for him, to find the bit-
ter pang of disappointment. Not having
the page of their future destiny open to my
view, I tremble at her being influenced to
turn one step from the path which may
have been marked out by fate for her hap-
piness."

Falkland, as anxious as his lordship for
the future union of the child of his fond

vol. i. t

314

care with the, amiable and interesting Bou-
verie, and knowing the volatile vivacity of
Rosalind, when in the altitude of her high
spirits, might he led to such raillery, rea-
dily acceded to his lordship's intreaty.

" This matter, then, adjusted, " said Lord
De Moreland, U may I now, if not pre-
sumptuously interfering with your pro-
vince, my dear Sir, speak my wishes rela-
tive to the disposal of the interest of my
niece's fortune?"

" Your wishes, my lord, I pledge myself
shall be my law," returned Falkland, with
animation.

f? Your hand, dear Sir, to sign your ho-
hour's bond," said his lordship, with a smile
more cheerful than his usually woe-fraught
ones. u I flatter myself I can calculate ex-
penses rather moie fairly for you than you
have hitherto done, most disinterested Sir;
and therefore, from this moment, beg leave
to appropriate sixteen hundred pounds per
annum to reimburse you for the expence
my child must necessarily prove in her
maintenance, that of her nurse, and the
Irishman you so kindly took into your
service, to please her infant fancy, and

■*>

15

whom I should now wish to be considered
as Adelaide's servant."

Falkland now said all that his upright
mind could suggest, consistent with re-
spect to the individual he argued with, to
subvert this arrangement, so advantageous
to himself; but Lord De Moreland was ab-
solute.

" My dear Doctor Falkland, " his lord-
ship said, " your word is irrevocably given ;
and was I to sink both principal and inter-
est of Adelaide's portion in the cause, it
could not, even then, repay the incalculable
debt she owes you for your tender care, and
for the mental treasures you have enriched
her by. Hitherto you have been playing a
losing game, I perceive, by your guar*
diansbip, and you must now consider your
ward's expence to you will increase every
year. Adelaide now wants no accumula-
tion of interest to make her fortune lanre,
for, let my affairs turn out how they may,
her portion will be immense.

" I have heard that Doctor Falkland was
too disinterested in all his dealings to be a
rich man; but he is now a married one:
he should now look to the no"t impossible

p2

316

event of coming issue; he should a little
consider the luxuries his lovely wife was
Teared in ; and for her sake, at least, accept
a compensation unhesitatingly, which even
his too fastidious honour can sanction, since
it comes from the hand of justice to him.

u As to the remaining interest of this
wealthy girl's fortune, with your good
leave, dear Sir, I should wish to be appro-
priated to her own individual expences.
You, Sir, will not allow her to be extrava-
gant; but let her learn from you to be
generous and benevolent. I wish her to
know how to use, not abuse, riches ; and
an early acquaintance with the manage-
ment of money, under the guidance of ju-
dicious counsellors, teaches us, I think, to
set a true estimate upon its value. While
Adelaide remains unmarried, I would wish
her ' to lay up treasures where neither moth
nor rust can corrupt ;J for when her wealth
passes into the hands of whoever fate or-
dains for her husband, she may then have
no power to show how aptly she had learned .
the science of christian chanty from that
adept, Doctor Falkland."
, His lordship arose at an early hour the

S17

succeeding morning to make the proper
arrangements for Bouverie's receiving in
future the full revenue of his paternal in-
heritance, and to transact business with
the steward of De Moreland Castle, whom
he ordered to consider Miss Bouverie as
mistress of it during his absence, and to
have the library in constant readiness for
her to study in, when it suited her inclina-
tion to go thither.

Immediately succeeding the departure
of the steward, Lord De Moreland called
Adelaide to a private conference with him ;
when, after an impressive exordium to con-
tinue in that path which should make her
estimable in this life, and secure her fair
claim to a blissful inheritance in a better
world, he told her he thought it highly
necessary for her to make a wedding pre-
sent to the wife of her guardian, to whom,
as well as to the Doctor himself, she was
under incalculable obligations,

•? What shall it be, my dear, dear uncle?"
Adelaide exclaimed, in an ecstasy of joy.
il I have still, untouched, the ten guineas
I took with me to Roscoville; may 1 lay
them all out for Mrs. Falkland ?"

318

" Why no, my love; your ten guineas
will not quite suffice for the present purpose.
You told me, Adelaide, that when Miss As-
pen field arranged for her union with jour
disinterested guardian, that he requested
her to leave all her valuable ornaments be*
hind, since it was enough to rob her father
of his child, and not to despoil him of his
property too : from this account, my love,
I presume a suit of pearls would be accept-
able to the fair Rosalind. I will, therefore,
write this moment to Gray, to send down, as
speedily as possible, an extremely handsome
suit for you to present to Mrs. Falkland."

The idea of making presents now put
into Adelaide's head, her heart began to
pant to make many, but one more particu-
cularly, as time pressed for that to be the
first; and now she began to blush, and to
attempt to impart her wish to her attentive
uncle.

" Shall I interpret what my Adelaide's
hesitation and blushes mean?" said his lord-
ship, benignly. " She wishes to make a
wedding present to her guardian."

f .Not just yet, my lord," she replied:
" but I do want to lay out my ten guineas

519

xj

on a little remembrance for — for Montagu,
who was so very good to give me a beauti-
ful pencil when he left school; and I have
often wished a great deal to present him
with some little gift, if it would not be
wrong for me to do it, dear uncle."

"What would you wish to give him?"
asked Lord De Moreland, smiling.

" Wish to give him ! A shield, the aegis,
tt) protect him in the hour of battle, if I
could," replied Adelaide, with animation.

LordDe Moreland caught the astonished
girl in his arms, and from an impulse of
spontaneous gratitude, affected and de-
lighted, pressed her with rapture to his
bosom,

" Although you cannot procure him a
shield, you can a sword, my love/' said his
lordship; " and, as bucklers are out of use,
a good sword may act the talismanic part
of the a^gis. He will use it as your knight;
and never, I'll answer for it, will he disgrace
the fair donor in his wielding it."

Adelaide trembled at the idea of so for-
midable a present, but, as it was the propo-
sition of her uncle, would not object to it ;
and his lordship, in defiance of his long

320

habitual indolence, wrote a most particu-
lar order for a sword, such as he should
wish the life of Montagu to be guarded
by, and directions to have it forwarded to
his regiment for him the moment it was
finished.

" And then, my dear uncle," said Ade-
laide, " will you contrive to let him know
it Was my keepsake : for now I had rather
he should not be told about it; for if he
was he would thank me, and then I should
be so ashamed."

" Then what will become of you, my
love, when Mrs. Falkland thanks you for
her pearls ?" demanded his lordship, smiling
with delight upon her, since every word
she had uttered relative to Bouverie ap-
peared to him auspicious to his project.

" Oh !'; said Adelaide, " the pearls will
be your gift, not mine, my lord ; and Mrs,
Falkland's thanks I shall only receive in
trust for you, and I shall not blush at all
in that business; except with pleasure to
see her wear such pretty things, and with
gratitude to a kind uncle, for evincing so
sweetly his feelings for the obligations con-
ferred on me/'

321

At length the hour arrived for Lord De
Moreland to set off for D,over, to be in readi-
ness for the packet that was to sail the next
tide. His sea-stores were provided with
every delicacy by Mrs. Falkland, while her
husband presented his lordship with a me-
dicine chest, stocked with every specific
against the maladies he laboured under,
with plainly written directions for Baro-
nello to observe in administering them.

" What shall I bring my Adelaide from
France ?" said Lord De Moreland, advanc-
ing to take a parting embrace.

" My uncle safe and well, to make me
happy, and to do honour to the skill of my
dear guardian/' she replied, in faltering
tones, in vain attempting to conceal how
much the thought of parting with him
affected her.

His lordship pressed her to his bosom,
and tenderly kissed her, when Adelaide's
tears could no longer be controlled : again
his lordship tenderly kissed her, and half
seriously, half gaily, articulated in a low
whisper —

" Remember, Adelaide, I charge you to
preserve your affections for this brother of

p5

322

Montagu's, or at least for the man Montagu
shall recommend to your favour."

The blushing and astonished Adelaide
now withdrew from her uncle's embrace ;
when his lordship, bidding Mrs. Falkland
adieu, attended by Bouverie and Falkland,
set out for Dover.

It was very late ere Falkland and Bou-
verie returned from Dover, They had
seen his lordship embark with an auspici-
ous wind ; and Bouverie experienced such
sincere sorrow at his departure under the
mental anguish he was subdued by, that he
immediately retired to his pillow to give
uncontrolled indulgence to the concern he
felt; for in the short period he had now
been in the constant society of his guar-
dian a most powerful affection had arisen
in his bosom for him, and he now loved hint
as a father, and deplored his mental suffer-
ings as a soa«

Bouverie arose next morning much more
himself than he had retired to his chamber
the preceding eight; and after rambling
an iaour with Adelaide along the beach,
talking of the 'beloved friend whom the sea
they gazed oa had so recently borne from

323

them, and partaking of Rosalind's elegant
dcjeune, he accompanied Falkland to Doctor
Birch's.

The Birch's were all too partial to Bou-
verie to say a negative to an invitation to
dine that day at Falkland's, although, since
the handsome doctor's* marriage, they en-
tered his house as seldom as possible.

The dinner at Mr. Falkland's passed off
more pleasantly than the females of Doctor
Birch's family expected, which they failed
not to attribute to Bouverie's cheering pre-
sence, since to Mrs. Falkland they could
ascribe no merit.

The following day the Falklands, with
Adelaide and Bouverie, dined at the doc-
tor's; when the misses, determined Mrs.
Falkland should have no opportunity of
showing off her musical excellence, per-
suaded their father to have a dance, in
compliment to his favourite Bouverie;
when, to their utter dismay, they found
her dancing as much admired as her mu-
sical abilities could possibly have been.

At this ball Adelaide was the happiest of
the happy: she danced with her guardian,
with Bouverie, and even with Doctor Birch

334

himself, who would have her for a partner,.
to the great annoyance of many of his pu-
pils, who languished for that happiness ; but
Adelaide tripped away most gaily with him,
although not a little disconcerted that he
would addrecp her in Latin at every cessa-
tion of their lively measure, which caused
her to blush so conspicuously, that a uni-
versal curiosity was awakened to know what
the sage doctor could be saying to his juve-
nile partner to occasion such an effect; but
no one except Falkland could learn the
secret from either.

On the following day there was a dinner
party of some of the first families in the
neighbourhood at Falkland's, and in the
evening a most delightful concert was
formed, in which the beautiful Rosalind
fascinated the chaste ear of taste and feel-
ing, whilst she established her claim to a
first rank in the attractive science of music.

325

CHAPTER XVII.

The succeeding morning several officers
of the garrison of Dover arrived at Sea-
view to visit the Falklands, who prevailed
upon them to stay dinner ; and who, with
a few friends of the neighbourhood, formed
a large and cheerful party : amongst the
number was Mellifont, though claiming no
rank with the cheerful, being in the secret
of Bouverie having, by that morning's
post, received an order to join his regiment
immediately, to proceed with it to Ireland;
a secret which Bouverie believing would
awaken pain in the bosom of Falkland and
his lovely ward, since it was to occasion
his departure much sooner than was ex-
pected, forbore to intimate yet to them.

In the close of the evening, at the pe-
riod when Mr, Falkland was paying his
parting civilities to his Dover guests, and
Rosalind engaged with her other visitors,
Bouverie drew Adelaide into a tite-d-tSte;
the object of it no less than seriously to
warn her against an early tender attach-

326

ment, and to believe, as she grew up, that
so few men were deserving of her heart,
she must, be wary ere she should yield it.

The advice was such as a tender brother
might be supposed to give a beloved sister
nearly about to enter life as a candidate
for universal admiration ; but whilst his
arguments against an early prepossession
seemed to aim at setting her heart in ada-
mantine security against the lures of all
mankind, but more particularly of the mi-
litary likely to be stationed on that part
of th« coast, he yet uttered no allusion to
her reserving her affections for his brother.

Bouverie excused the apparent immatu-
rity of his advice, by the probability ex-
isting of having no other opportunity
afforded to him ere it might prove too late.

" But I thought," said Adelaide, with a
sweet and playful smile, " you had made
my future election for me, Montagu. I
thought I was to be, in reality, your
sister.

" Ye — es," replied Bouverie, blushing
deeply; u but you know, Adelaide, you
may not meet until I appear to introduce
you to each other. I may be ordered

327

abroad for years; and in tlie intervening
time, who knows, without yoa assist my
project with your caution, who may de-
spoil poor Theodore of your affections ?"

" Your best method, my good friend,"
said Mrs. Falkland, gaily, who, attracted
by the evident seriousness of BouveriVs
conference with her husband's ward, had
approached them just in time to hear his
last reply to Adelaide — Ci your best me-
thod will be to take her affections with
you; place them in the regimental maga-
zine, and guard them with your ammuni-
tion from every combustible spark, in pre-
servation of them for your brother."

" Would Adelaide intrust me with the
charge of her affections/' said Bouverie in
a tone of respondent gaiety, 4t I would
preserve them most faithfully, yet not,
perchance, for my brother, although most
possibly for my father's son."

On the subsequent morning Bouverie
arose at an early hour, in the anxious hope
of fortifying the mind of Adelaide against
a premature attachment by all the new ar-
guments his restless night had supplied him
with; all of which he thought more coo*

323

elusive than even those he had used the
preceding night : but this interesting Ade-
laide he could no where find in her usual
morning haunts; and, at length, placing
himself upon the summit of a command-
ing cliff, to descry her, if possible, from
thence, he encountered Falkland, who had
ascended this height for a similar purpose;
for he, too, was in search of Adelaide, who
was gone out with her nurse, he knew not
whither.

Soon becoming weary of their inactive
station, they began their descent into the
village; when, in a new direction taken
in their meandering, they beheld Obearn
emerge from a cottage, and enter an oppo-
site house.

" Our stray lamb is found," said Falk-
land, M and found where few would think
of seeking a being of such tender years.
Xhe sweet child is now, I prophesy, endea-
vouring to compose the mental anguish of
a miserable maniac."

" A maniac !" exclaimed Bouverie ia
alarm, and by quickening his own pace
accelerating that of Falkland's, whose arm
was linked in his. " Gracious Heaven ! dear

329
Sir, leave not Adelaide to the mercy of a'

maniac.,,

" Fear not harm to Adelaide from this
hapless creature ; since her only lucid in-
tervals seem those moments in which she
rests her head upon the sympathizing bo-
som of this dear child.

a This poor unfortunate, now scarcely
seventeen, attracted the fancy of a profli-
gate, who holds a permanent naval station
here, and who, by the aid of his diabolical
arts, and the charms of his gay barouche,
seduced this once fair promising child of
innocence and beauty from her widowed
mother's cottage, and placed her as mistress
of his revels at the head of his table ere
she attained her fifteenth year.

" For six months this miscreant, Wal-
ton, was confined to his chamber with
rheumatic gout; and during the tedious
period of this painful attack poor Lucy
nursed him with all the tender, unremit-'
ting care of an anxious wife ; and by her
attention, I firmly believe, preserved his
existence. Upon his recovery, finding
this unfortunate creature far advanced in
a state to give her the strongest claims to

330

his protection, as a climax to his turpitude,
the ungrateful miscreant discarded her.

V Lucy returned to her heart-rived mo-
ther, who kindly received her, and never
littered one sentence of reproach ; yet so
deep, so direful, was the impression made
on the mind of this hapless parent by her
daughter's seduction, that in the moment
after she had discharged her duty to her
child in the hour of her travail, and had
beheld an illegitimate grandchild born to
disgrace her humble roof, she fled to yon-
der cliff, and plunging amid the rolling-
waves that rushed to its base, sunk to the
fate she sought.

" This direful catastrophe was told too
suddenly, too unguardedly, to the unfor-
tunate Lucy, in her weak state ; the shock
was too direful, and her senses were sub-
dued for ever; and now for above a year
has she been a melancholy maniac, whose
cure is hopeless ; whilst her destroyer—
the destroyer too of many a Lucy — con-
tinues the admired, the courted, not only
of the neighbourhood, but of the young
and fair who visit Sea view for health or
amusement."

331

Bouverie burst forth in an indignant
censure against the seducer, and those who
could thus encourage profligacy by smil-
ing cordially upon so diabolical a mis-
creant; and then demanded, <* What be-
came of the monster's disclaimed child ?,:

u It fortunately died."

•< And who supports the hapless Lucy r"

" Adelaide," replied Falkland.

"Adelaide!" repeated Bouverie with
emphasis, "Adelaide! sweet excellence !"

* Yes," resumed Falkland, " she pays a
Widow Ashford for her board, and visits
her often, to see she is tenderly treated,
and to soothe and comfort her troubled

spirit."

They now arrived at the asylum of the
hapless Lucy; and at that moment Ade-
laide came forth.

" You shall take a turn on the beach,
my love Vs said Falkland, anxiously, " to
refresh you, after your distressing visit iu
that small, close room."

" I was thinking it was a very close
room for poor Lucy, papa," returned
Adelaide, eagerly; " and that, perhaps,
was she removed to a more airy one, it

SS2

might do her good; and, besides, softie-
body she has reason to abhor has taken
the pretty white house that looks imme-
diately down upon Mrs. Ashford's garden;
and it would be so very shocking for Lucy
to see the terrible creature, that I was plan-
ning, if you would permit it, for Obearn
to look out a larger house for Mrs. Ash-
ford and Lucy to remove to."

" Be it so, my child," said Falkland,
beaming on her a tender smile of parental
approbation.

" Adelaide," said Bouverie, in the tre-
mulous voice of vainly suppressed emotion,
" may I not contribute my mite for aid-
ing your benevolent purpose of removing
this hapless victim of barbarity from the
torture of beholding the demoniac mis-
creant who could seek to view the misery
of his own creating ! Allow me to pre-
sent you, when we return to breakfast,
with five-and-twenty pounds for Lucy's
use, and to remit you that sum annually
to aid in your benevolent care of her."

"Montagu," replied Adelaide, so affect-
ed by his prompt and pitying benevolence
she could scarcely articulate her answer,

333

V I shall now experience no difficulty in
taking every care of poor Lucy ; therefore
pray, I beg you, reserve your beneficence
for some other afflicted being whom you
may see suffering, who has no Mr. Falk-
land near them to mitigate their calami*
ties."

" No Adelaide Bouverie, you mean,
my love!" said Falkland; " I have only
given my professional services to Lucy."

" Adelaide," said Bouverie, " you will
sensibly wound my feelings if you permit
me not the pleasure of joining in this be-
nevolence of v ours."

" I would not wound one feeling of
yours for worlds," returned Adelaide, art-
lessly: " you shall then assist us; and
your benevolence shall yield poor Lucy
a constant nurse to guard her; and, chosen
by my guardian, we need entertain no
fear, Montagu, of her not being a humane
one."

" After breakfast, Bouverie will accom-
pany us, my child," said Falkland, " to
view a cottage I think will exactly answer
to remove your protegee to."

" Alas!" exclaimed Bouverie, in a tone

334

of deep dejection, " I must, after break-
fast, wing my unwilling flight to Ports-
mouth."

" Portsmouth !" repeated Falkland, in
dismay ; " then you are ordered abroad
again ?"

u Not exactly abroad; but we are under'
orders to proceed immediately to Ireland."

Adelaide's la4^ge bonnet was now drawn
in impenetrable shade over her expressive
countenance, but the heaving of her bo-
som and the agitation of her frame left
not a doubt upon the minds of her com-
panions that she was sensibly affected by
the intelligence she had just so unexpect-
edly heard ; but neither seeming to ob-
serve her emotion, turned their hurried
footsteps homeward ; where, the moment
they arrived, Adelaide winged her rapid
way to her chamber, there in secret to
give free indulgence to her tears for the
speedy departure of him she now loved as
a dearly estimated brother.

At length the breakfast bell arrested the
tears of Adelaide, and called her to reflect
upon the appearance she should make, so
demonstrative of how much the departure

335

of Bouverie affected her ; and now every
effort she promptly made to take from her
aspect the evidence of her grief, but in
vain ; and Adelaide, in tremulous emotion,
entered the breakfast-room painfully em-
barrassed, and afraid to look on any one
assembled there, lest they should read in
her eyes how dear the preserver of her
life was to her affection, although that
affection was no more than the tender one
of a grateful sister.

No one of the party but Mrs. Falkland
had any appetite for breakfast ; since Bou-
verie's grief at the coming separation from
Adelaide fully rivalled hers for his depar-
ture; and Mr. Falkland's desire for food
was absorpt by anxiety for the future hap-
piness of the two young people now about
to part, who were both so dear, so inter-
esting to his regard. He saw most un-
equivocally attachment tender and ardent
had commenced on one side, and that the
basis of it was laid on the other. They
were abo*it to separate: years might in-
tervene ere they should meet again; and
what might not absence effect? If it led
each alike to forgetfulness, there might

336

be little to regret ; but should they meet
again, one firm in constancy, the other
with heart alienated, the happiness of one
would be then destroyed, their life con-
sumed away in the anguished misery of
hopeless love; and he trembled, he grieved
in anticipated apprehension of such a hap-
less fate being realized for either.

At length the melancholy breakfast
ended. Doctor Birch and Mellifont made
their appearance; the former to bid Bou-
verie adieu, the latter to accompany him
to Portsmouth. The doctor's time was
precious, he could not delay his valedic-
tion; and his affectionate farevvel to his
beloved pupil overset the little structure
of poor Adelaide's firmness, and she fled
to her garden from observation..
. f This taking leave is but a comfortless
business," said Rosalind: "you ought to
make it a point of conscience to lay aside
all your fascinations, Mr. Bouverie, while
you remain in the odious army, for it is
too unreasonable for anv man to tax one's
feelings so unmercifully with parting pangs
as you do." ,

; "*Tis too true," said Falkland: " the

337

poor doctor was quite unhinged at parting
from you ; and my young ward so sub-
dued by the idea of it, that I really wish
we could manage to spare her the affliction
of a final adieu."

u Mr. Falkland ! Do you mean, Sir, for
me not to see Adelaide again ? For me not
to say one parting word to Adelaide?" ex-
claimed Bouverie, pale with dismay.

" Why, certainly no, if the idea gives
you pain, dear and interesting friend of
my little treasure ! but I thought my plan
would spare you mutual affliction.' '

At this moment the chaise drove up to
the door that was to convev Bouverie
away, and the servants began to arrange
his baggage in it.

" Bouverie,'' said Mellifont, " I must
remind you that you have lingered at Sea-
view full six hours longer than prudence
sanctioned. Delaying will not decrease
your parting pangs ; then why not at once
dash into the distressing inevitability?"

Bouverie started from his seat, and with
a grateful pressure of Mrs. Falkland's
hand, he thanked her for her kindness to
him, and bade her farewel.

VOL. I. Q

S58

To part from her husband was not so
easy. Bouverie's full heart allowed him to
say little to Falkland hi his valediction.
He wiung his hand with fervor, and em-
phatically reiterating, Ci 6 — cf bless you,
Falkland \ he darted into the garden in
pursuit of Adelaide.

He found her weeping in the arbour in
her own little garden. She started from
her seat as he entered, and endeavoured
to avert her face : but Boiiverie was come
to behold that face for the last time for ah
unknown period ; and Ire caught her in his
arms, to arrest, he feared, her meditated
flight $ and as he gazed on hef grief-
blanched countenance he falteringly ar-
ticulated—

i4 Oh, Adelaide ! I ifnplore, I beseech
^ou, forget me not ! Let neither time nor
space lessen me in the regard you now be-
stow upon me!"

Adelaide sobbed convulsively.

u I shall write sometimes to Mr. Falk-
land/' continued Bouvefie, in hurried
tones, M often to Mellifont, and shall hear
of you frtfm them both; but to you I must
not yet write. Adelaide, my beloved Ade-

359

Iaicle ! farewel, farewel ! May Heaven stiM
guide, still protect you, and spare you to
those you have fondly, unalienably attach-
ed to you V9

And now he clasped her to his heart
with energy that seemed unwilling to re-
linquish its pressure; but the village clock
announcing ten, told him he must be
gone: again he pressed her to his throb-
bing heart, imprinted the tender kiss of
love's adieu upon her quivering lips, and,
with a blessing from his inmost soul, he
tore himself from Adelaide; and, not
again entering the house, darted into the
chaise, without uttering one word to any
one ; when Falkland, well divining he
wished his parting with Adelaide to ter-
minate his present adieus, desired Melli-
font to follow him into the carnage ; and
a farewel wave of the hand finished for
this period all communication between
poorBouverie and his friends in the house
of Falkland.

" Augustus," said Mrs. Falkland, the
moment Bouverie drove from the door,
" surely it is not possible this interesting
young man is really what he appears to b$

Q2

340

—overwhelmed in love for the little more
than baby, Adelaide?"

Falkland felt disconcerted at Rosalind's
suspicion being awakened of what he be-
lieved to be a fact, lest she should do ex-
actly what Lord De Moreland apprehend-
ed, and rather hesitatingly he answered —

" Why I think she is so very a child it
must be impossible, although there is cer-
tainly every appearance of it. But for Hea-
ven's sake, my love, do not rally Adelaide
upon the subject; who, with a heart already
softened by gratitude to her life's preserver,
might be led by the supposition of his at-
tachment to her to train up her affections
for him, who, after years of absence, may re-
turn from foreign service with a heart
estranged from this early predilection."

yi Augustus," replied Mrs. Falkland with
visible emotion, " I observe every reliance
upon my prudence is lost where Miss
Bouverie is concerned. I should scarcely,
without your admonitory caution, put the
subject of love into the head of such a
chit as she is."

"Nay, nay, my Rosalind wrongs me!
I fear not her prudence in any instance

341

where her gaieti de cceur allows her to
think of consequences. Those who are so
playfully gifted with fascinating vivacity
as you are seldom pause to weigh the
scruples of speculating prudence ere their
lively fancies find an utterance ; but in
the present instance I will confess I fear
more for Adelaide's future peace from her
too apparent susceptibility of Bouverie's
excellence than I do from the mirthful
sallies of my lively .Rosalind, who only
frowns upon me to convince me that in
every expression her face assumes I must
still admire the beauteous Proteus."

Rosalind, half smiling, called him " a
deluding flatterer;" and peace was sealed
upon her late pouting lip.

But however Mrs. Falkland might
shrink from her husband's evincing more
interest and affection for his ward than she
could brook his feeling for any being but
herself, she yet, uninfluenced by any visi-
onary pang of apprehensive jealousy, found
her own regard augmenting hourly for the
child of Ellen ; and not enduring that dear
child should indulge too unrestrainedly in
her grief, which from the moment of Bou-

M\

$3

verie's departure she possessed no longer
power to vail, she ordered the carriage,
and took her to Canterbury, to repair the
wardrobe her visit to Roscoville had in-
jured.

At breakfast the following day, Mrs.
Falkland, who had been seriously discuss-
ing with her husband the impropriety of
suffering Adelaide to remain the occupier
of an attic suite now Lord De More-land
so nobly remunerated him for his care of
her, asked Adelaide what part of the house
s,he should like to remove from her nur-
sery to?"

Adelaide, divining the cause of her me-
ditated removal, instantly answered, by
requesting to remain in the dear asylum of
her infancy.

"The range of attics are so extensive,"
she added, with a blush, " that I can never
be in any hody's way there."

" Yet still, my dear Adelaide !" replied
Mrs. Falkland, blushing too, ** the attics
of Falkland's house are not the place for
your apartments, whom he is so greatly
remunerated for the care of."

c< Mrs. Falkland/' exclaimed Adelaide

3AS

with affecting emotion and impressi.veness,
" if you love me, I implore, I in.treat you
consider me now as you did ere I went to
lloscoville, the tenderly reared nursling of
your husband's benevolence and pity ; the
young and grateful sister of your mutual
affection. And could my kind uncle put
millions into the coffers of my dear guar-
dian for his^care of me, still shoujo1 I sup-
plicate for my treatment in your house
being ever what my own conduct only
could claim, and what your affection for a
grateful sister would inspire."

" Then, my dear Adelaide," said Mrs.
Falkland, <c your treatment would be in the
highest altitude of distinction, beyond all
that wealth could purchase."

" It is indeed what wealth cannot pur-
chase I sue for," said Adelaide, pressing
the hand of Rosalind and Falkland, united
by her, to her heart. It is for the unce-
remonious ease and unrestrained confi-
dence of sisterly and fraternal affection I
plead, not the frigid .formality of right
that is purchased. You found me here,
Mrs. Falkland, an alien to my father's fa-
mily, the protegee of your benevolent hus-

344

band's tender care; and anxiously I wish
to prove that in me he reared a grateful
child, whose heart would feel more grati-
fication in one approving smile from him,
one proof of growing affection from you,
than in all the state of apartments, or other
appendants of this my fancied claim to
superior consideration.

<c In the attics of this house I was placed
by my guardian's tender attention to my
health, and they have proved an earthly
paradise to me ; and there, with your
good leave, I will remain, the unpretending
little girl you found me when you came
to restore to my fostering parent his long
lost happiness."

" Well, peace be unto the will of the
poor man who takes you for better for
worse, Adelaide ; for soon he will find
none left him but the magic spells of
yours! Your suit is won; and in the cel-
situde of your wishes you remain, in high
convenience, to wing your way to your
native spheres," said Rosalind gaily, yet
tenderly ; and affectionately pressing Ade-
laide to her bosom, and then placing her
in the arms of Falkland, added —

345

" There, Augustus, give your ci-devant
child, but henceforth sister, the fraternal
embrace." And Falkland pressed his be-
loved ward, with every feeling of tender,
paternal affection, to his approving heart.

Falkland was now compelled to tear
himself from the two beings whom he
most tenderly loved, to proceed on his
professional round ; and soon after his de-
parture Rosalind summoned Adelaide to
take her lesson in music, who was struck
so forcibly, in the course of her instruc-
tions, with the uncommon beauty and ex-
quisite symmetry of her pupil's hands and
arms- that she exclaimed —

" I must positively teach you the harp."

Adelaide blushed to the eyes, and her
heart bounded with joy at this intimation,
since the harp was Bouverie's favourite in-
strument, and he had requested her to
learn it.

" Oh ! how good you are, dear Mrs,
Falkland, to teach me that delightful ac-
complishment too !" exclaimed Adelaide, in
the first glad tone that had escaped her
since the departure of Montague.

Two hours had passed rapidly away In
*5

346

music's sw^eet sounds; and Adelaide was
seated at her drawing, forming a. beauti-
ful group of figures from Milton, under
the inspection of Mrs. Falkland, when a
card of invitation to a ball at Lord Beech-
brook's, a short distance from Seaview,
was delivered to Rosalind.

Adelaide blushed to the shade of the
Vermilion she was tinting her drawing
with, as anxiously she inquired, " on what
day the ball was to be:?"

Mrs. Falkland .misconceiving the cause
of her blush and anxiety, said, ;as she
handed the card toher-r-

" My love, you will see you are noting
vited. Lady Beechbrook considers you
too young/'

" My dear Mrs. Falkland/* exclaimed
Adelaide, u I was not thinking of the bail
for myself. I know I am too young to be
invited, or permitted by you to go to great
and formal parties. I only wished to
know when it was to, be; because, if any
thins: was wanted new for the occasion,
would there he sufficient time to ge£
things made?"

F Oh!" returned Mrs ..Falkland, smiling>

347

"although I had no wedding finery, I
dare say, without huying any thing for the
occasion, I shall find a dress that even
my dear, anxious young sister will ap-
prove."

Adelaide's drawing now became irk-
some to her, in her anxiety to write, un-
known to Mrs. Falkland, to hurry the
pearls down for the ball; and at length
some morning visits calling Rosalind from
her lovely pupil gave Adelaide .the oppor-
tunity she panted for, and her hurrying
epistle was dispatched by Dennis to the
post-office ere Mrs. Falkland rejoined her.

348

CHAPTER XVIII.

In a week after the departure of Bouverie
from Seaview Mellifont returned, with in-
telligence that his friend had sailed, wi th-
an auspicious wind ; and brought to Ade-
laide, from Bouverie, the most beautiful
and expensive drawing-box that London
could supply him with.

This superb present, with the certainty
tbat Bouverie was now upon the ocean,
borne by the swelling waves far, far from
Seaview, renewed that grief which had been
lulled to calmness by the tranquillizing
power of reason in the bosom of the grate-
ful Adelaide, who determined, to evince her
thankfulness for his beautiful gift by mak-
ing every proficiency her most strenuous,
exertions could lead her to in the art of
drawing. She knew it was an accomplish-
ment highly estimated by Montagu, and
he should not find his box thrown away,
she resolved:- and this secret determina-
tion soon produced a visible effect on the
drawing she was then engaged in, amazing

349 '

Mrs. Falkland each succeeding day by the
increasing powers of surpassing genius*

At length the morning of Lady Beech*
brook's ball arrived, but not the pearls;
and Adelaide, in grief of disappointment,
thought church work could be nothing in
tardiness to jeweller's work. Evening, too,
arrived, and IV'Irs. "Falkland emerged from
her toilet, looking elegant and beautiful to
a high degree, in a most becoming dress
of simple style, unexceptionable, Adelaide
thought, for an unmarried woman > but a
wife — the wife of her dear guardian, she
wished should have her beautiful neck
and haii; ornamented by something more
costly than a row of white beads and a
sprig of an exotic from Mordaunt Priory,,

iC Adelaide, my love !" said Mrs. Falk-
land, ■' why do you look so mournfully at
me, as if I was dressed for sacrifice instead
of a ball ?"

At this moment Dennis, half breathless
with the speed he had made from the coach*
office, rushed in, with a carefully papered
parcel, which he had taken, ready for Ade-
laide to open, from the deal case it had ar-
rived in.

Adelaide snatched the parcel* with &
£< thank you, thank you, dear, good Den-
ins !" and scampering round the room, in a
capering flight of joy's delirium, at length
bounded back to the tea-table, and tearing
and cutting away all impeding seals, pa-
pers, and packthreads, made her impatient
way to a red leather case, out of which she
drew a superb and beautiful suit of pearls,
which she laid in Mrs. Falkland's lap, and
requested her permission to assist in placing
those ornaments in their destined stations.

The astonished Falklands desired in one
breath to know the meaning of this scene,
in every way, they feared^ a scene of extra-
vagance.

" Adelaide, you surely could not have al-
lowed your affection to overstep the bounds
of prudencein ordering such things ?" they
added,

" No," she replied, with a laugh of
mingled ndiveti and pleasure, " no, I had
not the presumption to act in the business.
My dear uncle arranged it all, and only
left it for me to remit his draft to Mr.
Grey,, and to request Mrs. Falkland to ac-
cept this little set of ornaments from the

351

-grateful dcoe of her husband, the child, of
|ier own once beloved friend."

Rosalind accepted the beautiful present
with a kiss of gratitude, and Falkland
promptly beheld, with tears of pleased
emotion irradiating the brilliancy of his
intelligent eyes, the lovely and adored wife
of his bosom most elegantly adorned by
the as lovely child of his affection.

"I thought, " he at length exclaimed,
€C that the appearance of my Rosalind this
evening defied the power of improvement ;
but Adelaide convinces me I was mistaken.'*
f. " Ah me!" cried Mrs. Falkland, in af-
fected dismay, as she glanced her sparkling
eyes into the chimney glass, "I fear my
vpearls are so exquisitely beautiful they will
attract ail admiration from myself."

& Oh !" said Adelaide, smiling in delight
.upon her beautiful friend, " can admiration
be attracted by pearls where brilliants like
-these emit their radiant beams?" and she
laid her finger on Mrs. Falkland's eyes.

" Or where such rubies tempt the spoiU
er's touch?" exclaimed Falkland playfully,
as in earnest affection, he snatched a kiss
from the lips of Rosalind.

352

" Upon my word, good people, you will
send me to the ball in a pretty state," said
Rosalind, smiling, " if you thus contrive to
inebriate my senses by the fascinating cup
of flattery."

Accounts soon arrived from Bouverie to
Mellifont of his safe arrival at Cork : and
in about a fortnight after Falkland received
a letter from him, to announce his having
got the sword which Lord T)e Moreland
had intimated to him Adelaide meditated
doing him the honour of presenting him
with ; and thes>e acknowledgments he re-
quested Mr. Falkland to convey to her for
him, Bouverie couched most beautifully
and afifectingly, as he alluded to the sym-
pathetic influence of the spirit of Adelaide's
sire guarding her sacred gift from being dis-
graced in the hand she had confided it to.

In due time letters also from Lord De
Moreland had arrived to Adelaide, convey-
ing to her the most pleasing intelligence of
his amended health ; and at length, in about
two months after his departure from Sea^
view, she received an epistle from him,
trated Paris, a most joyful one to her, an-
nouncing that he was almost immediately

553

setting out on his return to England : but
sad was the disappointment which awaited
Adelaide; for the cruel detention of the
British in France at this period, May, 1803,
most unexpectedly took place, and Lord
De Moreland was flung into prison, with-
out being allowed the privilege of writing
home to announce his fate; and weeks,
and months, and years at length passed on
without one friend of his, save Baronello
(the sharer of his prison), knowing where
he was placed, or whether he was even in
existence.

But as hope will cheer the human mind
while certainty destroys not its pleasing in-
spirations, Adelaide still fondly led her
expectation with what her ardent wishes
formed, that each new week would fjring
intelligence of her now more than ever be-
loved uncle; while Lady Leyburn, anxious
only to hear of his dissolution, left no ex-
ertion untried which the fondest affection
would have attempted to learn if her dia-
bolical wish was realized; for, beside the
hoped for gratification to her insatiate ava-
rice his death would yield her, she trembled
at the idea of his return, to learn the pub«?

354

lie and develop the private infamy of her
eldest son and herself,

Mr. Blackthorn had just obtained da-
mages in the court of Kings Bench against
I^ord Ley burn, for his lordship's seduction
of his young wife beneath the roof of his
mother; while that infanious .mother, in
remuneration for the sinister services of
Blackthorn, had forfeited her claim to an
unblemished reputation; and with heart
and .hand engaged to a dissipated young
officer, her ladyship was now thrown into
the utmost alarm by the vile associate of
her villany pushing with, all his power for a
divorce, that he might take his guilty pa-
ramour for his third wife; who had now,
by so many breaches of law, both human
and divine, placed herself so securely ia
his power, that well she knew she must
not dare to refuse him hex hand the mo-
ment he should demand it : while Black-
thorn's, son hy his first marriage, a profli-
gate libertine of twenty -two. upon the
presumption of Lord De Moreland's death,
intruded -himself at Roscoville, to amuse his
fancies there; for being a lawyer's clerk, he
had been made the instrument p( many of

'4KZ

55

Lady Ley burn's illegal proceedings, and
therefore he knew that let him attempt
what atrocity he might, fear would shield
his conduct from question or reproof.

From Lady Ambrosia Leyburn, Adelaide
received many very vilely written but af-
fectionate epistles, all filled with vanity's
catalogue of numerous conquests ; but at
length complaints of Mr. Daniel Black-
thorn became her theme, who, she said,
was openly paying his devoirs to her sister
Seraphina. whilst he attempted his secret
addresses to her.

Adelaide, in h^r .first reply .to these com-
plaints, conjured her cousin to communi-
cate tills conduct of Mr. Daniel Black-
thorn's to hex mother; and soon Lady
Ambrosia informed her anxious cousin
that she had complied with her advice,
and that, although her mother appeared
evidently disconcerted at what .she impart-
ed to her, and desired her upon no ac-
count to return his love, yet she ordered
her not to be uncivil to him, and certainly
had made no comment to him upon the
subject: and now, in every subsequent let-
ter, Lady Ambrosia more and more de»

356

plored the strange and unnatural apathy
of her mother to the reprehensible and an-
noying conduct of young Blackthorn to
her ; and in every answer Adelaide, assisted
by Mr. and Mrs. Falkland's sage advice,
whom for her cousin's sake she had called
into her confidence, gave her such impres-
sive counsel for her conduct, that Lady
Ambrosia, penetrated to the heart by its
wisdom and its kindness, expressed herself
so gratefully for it, that now each week
from Seaview was sent, under clandestine
convoy to Mrs. Sharply the nursery maid,
the only portion of good this unfortunate
girl derived — the only counsel that ever
came from virtue interested in her happi-
ness, and anxious to promote it.

Although Falkland had now the interest-
ing hope of becoming a father in the fol-
lowing autumn, yet that anticipated hap-
piness found considerable alloy by the
distress of mind his Rosalind endured for
the fate of her parents, who, loitering in
France after the rest of the party returned
in safety to their homes, (the general, ap-
prehensive of being sent abroad, affecting
ill health, to continue in the south of

357

France,) remained to be arrested, and be-
came prisoners, with many a hapless fellow
sufferer.

According to expectation, in the month
of September the birth of a child, a most
lovely boy, gladdened the fondly attached
hearts of Falkland and his Rosalind ; yet to
all appearance the parents* joy on the happy
event fell short of Adelaide's, for she seem-
ed little less than frantic with rapture at
having a babe of Falkland's to fondle and
adore. She petitioned to have his nursery
the very next one to her own; she collected
every plaything and present she could pro-
cure for him, until his parents forbade her
extravagance ; and regularly every month
she drew his picture.

The gratitude of Mrs. Falkland to our
young heroine for all her affectionate at-
tention to her during her first keenly felt
sufferings for the misfortunes of her pa.
rents, and during her confinement, led
her, the moment she was sufficiently reco-
vered from her accouchement, to com-
mence her promised instructions on the
harp; and a very fine instrument being
procured for Adelaide, she set about the

35S

power of using it with such auspicious
promise of success, that Rosalind soon
pronounced she would surpass in that even
her transcendent excellence upon the piano
forte; and having now just entered her
fourteenth year, her anxious guardian was
persuaded to give up his intention of her
completing it ere he yielded his permis-
sion for her exercising her soft, mellifluent
voice in singing; and in this accomplish-
ment, too, Mrs. Falkland became her able,
kind instructress : and with these new ac-
quirements, aiding her former pursuits,
with the delightful employment of nurs-
ing the lovely Frederick, Adelaide found a
day of sixteen hours too short for her avo-
cations ; and often, unknown to Obearn,
she lengthened it by an hour from her
morning slumbers, when, without disturb-
ing any one, she could pursue her mental
studies.

When Frederick was about a year old,
his lovely mother was much surprised to
hear a message delivered to her husband
from Beechbrook, desiring his immediate
attendance there. upon the Hon. Mrs.
Gustavus Saville.

359

When Helena Harvey returned from her
trip to Paris the wife of Mr. SaviHe, Rosa-
lind began to form suspicions of the disin-
terestedness of that friendship* which had
almost forced her into her present happi-
ness; but when her cousin allowed four
months to elapse ere she acknowledged
her congratulatory letter upon her marriage
and safe return, those suspicions became
convictions; and now rinding she was in
her very neighbourhood without deigning
to inquire for her, as a sigh swelled in her
heart for her disappointed friendship, a tear
of filial anguish strayed down her cheeks to
think the now evident, artful project of her
designing aunt and cousin should have led
her poor parents to the misery of captivity.

When Falkland returned from Beech-
brook, his lovely wife was full of anxiety to
learn all that had passed in his interview
with Helena ; when Falkland, to spare her
the humiliation of knowing the haughty
Savilles had treated her husband as the
most common vender of drugs, softened
the reception he met with considerably for
her; and which, had it not been for the
conciliating attentions of Lord and Lady

360

Beechbrook during the insulting scene, he
could not have gone through without
evincing the resentment his indignation
was ebulliatrng with.

The conduct, therefore, of Mr. Saville
and his affected wife to their beloved friend
and idol, Falkland, could not fail of being
highly displeasing to both Lord and Lady
Beechbrook; and which irritated the grate-
ful feelings of the latter to burst forth, im-
mediately upon the departure of Falkland,
into the highest eulogiums upon him and
his fascinating wife, and into the most pro-
voking; account of the heart residence of
their connubial happiness.

Every word she uttered shot like barbed
arrows to the still bleeding heart of the
selfish Saville, who would have entered
into every villany to obtain the lovely Ro-
salind, although he knew her affections
were irrevocably devoted to another; nor
to Helena were they much less painful in-
flictions, for envy had early taught her
hatred to the universallv admired Rosa-
lind, which art had instructed her to veil
by affected love; and now beholding her
as a rival, who possessed unquestionably

361

her husband's heart; and although she
prized that heart only as by the possession
of it she might attain more influence over
the mind of a man she had married to feed
her ambition and her taste for every dissi-
pated extravagance, her greatest joy would
have been to hear that Rosalind was a
wretched wife.

On the following morning Mrs. SavilJe
set out, in her own superb equipage, to
visit her poor cousin, unaccompanied by
Lady Beech brook, having intimated she
had family matters to discuss with Mrs.
Falkland; and rapidly her four fine horses
whirled her to the residence of Rosalind,
which she was highly disconcerted to find
so handsome a one; but the increased
beauty of Rosalind herself since last they
had met, with all the comforts and even
elegancies which surrounded her, added
more bitterness to the cup of envy; yet
she dressed her face in smiles, and endea-
voured, by her suavity and condescending
cordiality, to obliterate the impression of
her conduct to Falkland the preceding day.

Adelaide had been present for a short
period of this visit, but considerately con-

VOL. I. R

eluding the cousins might wish for a t£te-
a-t£te, made an excuse for retiring, to the
infinite joy of the malicious Helena, who
panted to disturb the happiness of her
cousin, whose only foible, she well remem-
bered, was a strong propensity to jealousy
of those she loved ; and from having seen
her suffer agonies at the possibility of
Falkland's heart ever being estranged from
her, she now was led, by her diabolical
wish, to take an opportunity, after the de-
parture of Adelaide, subtilly to scatter
seeds for the future growth of this noxious
poison to human happiness.

She commenced with high encomiums
upon Adelaide's exquisite beauty and fas-
cinations of grace and manner, in which
Rosalind most cordially united.

" She is a very great girl of her age.
You say, Rosalind, she was only fourteen
last month ?" said Mrs. Saville ; " and yet,
she is so tall and graceful, and her manners
so formed, one might really take her for a
year, at least, older ; and, so far, that is a
good thing, for it will aid her beauty in
sooner ridding you of what I should con-
sider a very dangerous companion/'

a

63

"A dangerous companion!" repeated
Rosalind. " In what respect, Mrs. Saville5
may I ask ?"

" Why, perhaps, my fears might be only
visionary ; but, to own the honest truth, I
had rather she should be any body's hus-
band's ward than mine; for, exquisitely
happy as I am, I yet should dread the in-
fluence of such a creature growing up in
Saviile's way, and each hour putting forth
new blossoms of beauty, while mine each
hour were fading towards ultimate decay.
Such a girl, in her teens, would be rather
a disadvantageous companion for a woman
past twenty-seven to have constantly be-
side her; and where such tender interest,
too, had been awakened, by rearing her
from almost infancy.

" You may have no fears, because Falk-
land's constancy stood the test of time;
but that was before you became his wife-
after, in my opinion, is the test of love y and
I would advise you, for fear of mischief, to
marry off this dangerous girl to the first
man you can persuade her into having.

" Dear Rosalind ! I am sorry to thave
agitated you thus 5 but I thought it right

r2

3U

to set you upon your guard. All, at pre-
sent, I should hope was safe, the girl is so
young — but I would have you look to future
consequences ; where your husband's heart
is so predisposed to enthusiastic attach-
ment to this child of his care, whilst she,
poor unconscious thing ! what being can
take precedence in her bosom of her kind,
her tender, her above all transcendently
handsome guardian? Nay, nay, tremble
not so, dear Rosalind ! I may have imbibed
fears which never may be realised, for it
may be Falkland's way to talk with enthu-
siastic rapture of every one he regards ; and
the flushing of his cheeks, the agitated ex-
pression of his eyes, and the visible heaving
of his bosom when Lord Beechbrook yes-
terday talked of Miss Bouverie's marrying
greatly, might be merely the effusion of
parental solicitude; but I own it startled
me, and led me to determine upon com-
ing here alone to-day to put you on your
guard : and now, ' dear Rosalind, sweet my
coz, be merry,' or, at least, compose your
aspect before you see your husband, and
let nothing tempt you to breathe a suspi-
cion of my fears to him; for that might

3&>

be only accelerating the mischief I appre-
hend." i

Rosalind, ashamed of the weak alarm she
had betrayed, endeavoured to appear as if
she thought the affection of her husband
defied the power of any new attachment.

Mrs. Saville said she hoped it might
prove so, and shortly after took leave, kiss-
ing her dear cousin in adieu, as she was
next morning to quit Kent, after having
too successfully scattered her noxious seeds
in a soil most genial to them ; and writh-
ing in all the agony of that malady her
perfidious cousin had infected her with,
the unconscious Adelaide found the un-
hinged Rosalind, when, soon after the de-
parture of the wily snake, she entered with
a beautiful bouquet, to present to Mrs.
Falkland her daily offering, selected from
the choicest flowers of Mr. Mordaunt's
never neglected present to her.

Adelaide gracefully delivered her sweefr
incense in delight of heart, believing, as
this bouquet was composed of Mrs. Falk-
land's most favourite flowers, it would
highly gratify her ; then great was her dis-
appointment when Rosalind coldly received

S6G

them, and soon after peevishly exclaim-
ed—

" These odious flowers ! How they make
my head ache!"

Instantly Adelaide sprang from her be-
loved harp, took the flowers out of the
room, and on her return employed herself
with some work.

" Pray what is the matter, that you do
not go on with your hour's practice, Miss
Bouverie ?" demanded Rosalind, with hau-
teur.

" Miss Bouverie/" returned Adelaide, sur-
prised and hurt at the appellation, " was
too apprehensive of the sound of the harp in-
creasing her bfeloved Mrs. Falkland's head-
ache to resume her practice at present."

i 'The witch !" thought Rosalind, "howshe
thaws one's heart in a moment ! Falkland
will, assuredly, never, never be enabled to
withstand the magic of those meek eyes,
and I shall be undone !"— -And at this sug-
gestion she heaved a groan-clad sigh, and
sympathetic tears started to those meek eyes
she dreaded ; for Adelaide felt now assured
that some distressing intelligence had been
communicated by Mrs, Saville relative to

367

General and Mrs. Aspenfield, and which
caused the unusual discomposure of Mrs.
Falkland.

Fervently Adelaide now wished that Fre-
derick was awake, for well she knew his
endearing smiles would prove a> balm to
heal his mother's inquietude ; but next to
being able to bring this magician to his
parent's arms would be to talk of him,
therefore she said —

" How sorry Mrs. Saville must have been
to find Frederick playing the part of one
of the seven sleepers the whole time she
staid 1 I wonder she did not go up to the
nursery to see him in his crib. Indeed I
was so fully persuaded she would do so,
that I coaxed his nurse to let me gently
steal off the unbecoming cap he had on,
and slip on one of his prettiest ; and then
I put his counterpane down, just to shew
his dear, little, white, fat neck; and then
I drew out his pretty, darling hand so cun-
ningly, to shew that to advantage ; and he
looked so sweet and innocent, and iu such
a pretty attitude, I was quite disappointed
she did not come up to see the dear che-
rubs for then she must have loved him in

36$

one minute, he looked so like what her
cousin must have been when a baby."

Mrs. Falkland again experienced the
power of Adelaide for thawing hearts; and
with more cordiality than she had spoken
to her since the departure of Mrs. Saville,
said —

" Frederick is his father's resemblance,
not mine."

"Oh ! Mrs. Falkland, how can you think
so, when every person wTho beholds him
exclaims, ' How like his mother he is !' and
as to my guardian, he sits gazing in adora-
tion of the child for this very resemblance
to you; and often when he comes into th§
nursery while the babe is sleeping, he beck-
ons me to the little crib, just to look and
tell him if ever two beings were more alike,
than his angel wife and cherub boy ?"

This account of her husband's fond
aifection would have come like pure in-
cense to the heart of Rosalind, had it
not known the bitter alloy of the danger-
ous tendency of his straying to the apart-
ments Adelaide inhabited, and calling her
to be the participator of his paternal rap-
ture. He had never summoned her tg

369

sympathetic feeling in the contemplation
of their sleeping child ; and now, in gloomy
foreboding of future evil, Rosalind became
ungraciously silent.

Adelaide now convinced it was not grief
that affected Mrs. Falkland's manner, and
apprehending it to be displeasure at her for
some inadvertent offence, she determined
to continue talking, as if she had observed
nothing of this too visible asperity, in hopes
of bringing about an explanation that would
lead to the recovery of her favour.

" I think, Mrs. Falkland, you said the
picture you had^clrawn of Miss Harvey,
in Paris, was extremely like her; if so, she
must be greatly altered since that time."

" I suppose you think she looks older ?"
said Mrs, Falkland, in alarm, for Mrs.
Saville and herself were born in the same
month; "but, certainly, all the world are
not as young as you, Miss Bouverie."

" Luckily for the world," returned Ade-
laide, with emotion ; " for then there would
be no svise heads to regulate affairs of con-
sequence; and poor children without their
guidance might, unwittingly, every hour
offend their best and dearest friends, as

»5

370

Miss Boiwerie seems most unknowingly,
yet most evidently, to have clone. Mrs.
Falkland, why not with your usual can-
dour tell me my inadvertent offence, and,
I trust, in one moment the sincerity of my
contrition will obliterate its impression from
your heart?"

Adelaide's tone, and look of affection,
keenly wounded by unmerited unkindness,
thrilled to the heart of Mrs. Falkland ; but
her embarrassment became extreme, for
the spells of Helena withheld her from
taking Adelaide to her bosom, and hush-
ing her alarm by the voice of tender kind-
ness ; and all she could do, and which the
better feelings of her bosom murmured at
as frigid and unamiable, was merely to as-
sure her " she was not displeased with her;
but the conduct and communications of
Mrs. Saville had discomposed her mind,
and, she feared, most unjustifiably ruffled
her temper."

" I wish from my heart she had staid
away!" exclaimed Adelaide, emphatically.

" So do I, from my very soul !" said Ro-
salind, with a deep drawn sigh : then wish-
ing to turn the thoughts of Adelaide from

371

suppositions which might lead to awkward
questions, she added — " One thing she
wounded my feelings most terribly in:
when I asked, ' had she no wish to see my
child?' she answered, ' No. she abominated
brats; she hated children.* *

Falkland at this moment entered the
room ; but so highly was the ire of Ade-
laide excited, that, unmindful of him, her
indignation led her to exclaim, with a de-
gree of vehemence he believed her gentle
nature incapable of —

" Unnatural woman ! Then sincerely,
from the bottom of my heart, I pray she
may never, never have a child to hate!"

Falkland rushed forward, fixed his eyes
in stern displeasure upon the affrighted
girl, and impressively said —

" Adelaide, I am shocked ! I am grieved !
I am overpowered with amazement at what
I have heard from your own lips, or even
the testimony of my Rosalind could scarcely
have convinced me that the child whom
your angel mother, and I, as her delegated
substitute, strove with unremitting, anxi-
ous care, ana never slumbering solicitude,
to rear in the path of Christianity, could

372

have the heart to conceive, or the temerity
to utter, so uncharitable, so unchristian an
aspiration as this instant grated on my ap-
palled ears, and struck with agonising pain
to my wounded, disappointed heart."

The voice of Falkland, in serious disr
pleasure with her, had never sounded on
the ear of Adelaide before ; and therefore
its effect was powerful, in the fully awak^
ened belief that her offence must be of
monstrous enormity, or he would not so
reprove it.

In a convulsive burst of penitential tears
she threw herself at her guardian's feet*
and in almost inarticulate anguish of emo-
tion implored his pardon. Falkland raised
her from the ground, but did not, with ac-.
customed kindness, anxious for reconcilia-
tion after slight offences, take her in his
arms, and press her to his forgiving bosom ->
now he merely raised her, as he gravely
said —

" It is not me you have offended by this
burst of unchristian asperity. Me you have
merely grieved and disappointed. Retire,
child, and seriously reflect upon what you
uttered, and how you uttered it; and then5

* 573

I doubt not, your act of contrition will be
properly applied.'*

Falkland had now incontestable evinced
his conviction of Adelaide's being no mon-
ster of perfection, who could not err; and
the dire spell Helena had thrown around
the kindness and affection of Rosalind for
this orphan girl was dissolved for this pe-
riod, and tenderly she clasped the trem-.
bling, sobbing mourner to her bosom, as
reproachfully she exclaimed —

" Oh ! Augustus, how can you be so
severe? Never, since I have been your
wife, has this dear girl given you cause
before to reprehend her; and if now she
uttered hastily an improper wish, surely it
need not be so harshly censured."

" Was Adelaide prone to err," Falkland
replied, " I should not have felt the amazed
grief 1 experienced on hearing so unchari-
table a wish escape l>er lips, A less amia-i
ble child committing a heinous fault would
not strike me as half so reprehensible as her
who seemed, hitherto, so well to understand
every Christian precept, and who acted so
conformably to them. Adelaide,, while

knowing her duty so well, doubly, trebly
transgressed by straying from it."

" But it was the warmth of her affection
to our child, whom she wished Mrs. Saville
to see and love ; her enthusiasm in the cause
of nature's claims, that led her on to vio-
lence," said Rosalind.

cc Should enthusiasm be allowed such
influence over our minds, my Rosalind, to
lead us from the path of duty ? Should we
allow it, even in the cause of virtue, to pre-
cipitate us into vice ?"

" Vice !" groaned out Adelaide, as she
sunk from Mrs. Falkland's arms upon her
knees, and, with her face hid on the lap of
her pitying friend, she endeavoured to as-
pirate a prayer to Heaven for pardon : but
the swelling tide of her agonising grief, at
the horror implied of her having entered
the path of vice, arose almost to the anni?
hilation of every faculty.

Falkland, as well as Rosalind, became
alarmed, when every soothing consolation
he could offer her, in the assurance of Hea-
ven's mercy and forgiveness, even now ex-
tended to her on such sincere contrition,

375

he found himself compelled to call most
promptly and earnestly to his aid, to sooth
the anguish of her mind, and calm her
dreadful agitation ; but although in ap-
pearance Adelaide was tranquillized, to
lull the self-upbraidings of her guardian
for his severity in admonition for her first
great fault, yet it was many and many a
care-worn clay and sleepless night ere the
rankling thorn of compunction was ex-
tracted from the bleeding heart of Ade-
laide, by what she believed sufficient peni-
tence, for having dared to swerve from the
mild precepts of Christian charity.

376

CHAPTER XIX.

It was in this season of Adelaide's- distress,
that Mr. Mordaunt was seized with a most
dangerous illness : Falkland attended him
through it, and by his skill restored him to
health ; but the attack had been so alarm-
ing to Mordaunt,. he thought it necessary
to make a final disposition- of his property.

" Falkland," he said, " I obey you in
all things when I am sick; and my obedi-
ence succeeds so auspiciously, that I think
I cannot do better than continue it now
I am well — therefore tell me to whom shall
I bequeath my property ?"

" To your nearest relative, of course/5
replied Falkland.

" My nearest relative is a scoundrel, Sir.
I visited him once; I found his aged
grandmother imprisoned in a garret, in the
unnatural monster's house, because she
was garrulous and helpless. I«took her to
my home, and acted as a son by her until
she died; so, Sir, that wretch, you see, is
not for my money."

S77

" Well, then," said Falkland, " your
nearest kindred whose merit claims your
approbation. "

" Pshaw! you are a blockhead!" re-
turned Mordaunt: " I have no kindred
but that scoundrel; and if ever you at-
tempt to do him a good turn again, my
tomb shan't hold me; I'll burst from it,
and take your wife and ward, in vengeance,
from you. I will consult you no more
upon my worldly concerns, but leave my
goods and chattels to the first honest man
I meet, who, I think, will be kind to my
tenants and the poor, and value the old
goods and chattels for the donor's sake.
So now, having no better advice to give
me, march off for a driveller in worldly
affairs, and don't offer to come near me
again until I send for you, Mr. Equity.
Nearest of kindred, indeed ! To be adver-
tised for, I suppose; but d — n all kin but
the kindred we claim with honest men !—r
I say again, do not offer to come near rpje
until I have learned to forgive your musty
justice, of leaving my property to my
nearest relative — nearest d — 1 ! Sound
principle to act upon. Scrawl out an in>

378

vitation in the diurnal prints to the nearest
of kin to Horatio Mordaunt to come and
hear something greatly to their advantage;
and Dame Justice, under your equitable
auspices, brings me, for my wealth, a son
of infamy from the stews, a black legs
from a gambling house, or leads me to
iill the coffers of a monster who ill-used
an aged parent. No, no, Mr. Noodle, I'll
have a character with my steward ere I
entrust him. Ay, Sir, from those he has
conscientiously served — honour, benevo-
lence, and charity."

" Nay, my dear Sir/' said Falkland,
laughing, <l but even in this you seek for
kindred — kindred sympathies."

" No matter what I seek, but not your
company at present, Sir; so march off, I
say, and do not let me see your stupid phiz
again until — until dinner hour to-morrow,
when you may come, if you like, and the
girl, and, what's more too, you may bring
your wife, if she has not learned in her
nursery to fear I may kill her for dog's
meat."

" My good Sir !" exclaimed the amazed
Falkland, " do I really comprehend you ?

379

Can you mean my wife and ward should
dine with you?"

(i How can I tell whether you compre-
hend ? I have asked you to bring them,
and you may do it or not, just as the stu-
pid fit which is upon you arranges."

" Oh ! you may rely on my bringing
them ; to whom the novelty of the invita-
tion will give the wings of impatience for
accepting it to."

" Well, Sir, and the girl's wings cannot
expand more rapidly to bring her hither
than I wish ; for she is a good girl, proved
by her great increase of fortune and ex-
pectations not having spoiled her. Ay,
she is as much the unassuming child of
meek humility as if she possessed not a
groat."

" As to you, Sir Kin Seeker, don't go
fancy I have forgiven your reminding me
of the only blot I know in my family
escutcheon, my infernal cousin, by my in-
novation of civility to your family. If
the little girl had not said so much in fa-
vour of your wife to me, from time to
time, you may rely on it 1 would not let
her shew her nose here j for her being your

380

wife, your choice, sways me not a jot in
the business; so do not decamp now,
pluming yourself that it does; for as wo-
men are all one mass of error, even the
wisest man cannot choose judiciously
when he selects a wife/'

" Well, well," said Falkland, smiling, as
he moved towards the door, " I do not
despair of seeing you over head and ears
in love with mine, errors and all, before
to-morrow night ; but, I pray you, be mer-
ciful to your poor apothecary, and lay no
plans at his expense for enriching certain
doctors."

" Get out, you grinning puppy !" ex-
claimed Mordaunt, flinging a pamphlet
after him. " Neither commons nor medi-
cal doctors shall be enriched by me; for
ere I see your dab of a wife I shall have
put it out of my power to pay any damages
she may occasion."

On the subsequent morning Falkland
strolled into the public library of Seaview
to look over the daily papers ere he set
out on his professional circuit; when a
lawyer of the neighbourhood rather rudely
brushed by him, and then, as if suddenly

581

recollecting him, and himself, begged his
pardon*

" You'll excuse my hurry, Sir, which
caused my rudeness," he continued, "when
I tell you I am hastening to Mordaunt
Priory, to put the finishing stroke to Mr.
Mordaunt's last testament. Mr. Mor-
daunt, your great friend, Mr. Falkland, is
in the act of making his will; and I am a
little in the secret of where the wealth of
this great friend of yours* is to revert."

" Really, Sir !" returned Falkland, com-
posedly.

This composure disappointed the ma-
lice of Mr. Gabble, this lawyer ; who
being brother to Mr. Mordaunt's ex-apo-
thecary, bore irreconcileable enmity to his
successor ; and, with a supercilious sneer,
he now said—

" As you are a man of sense, Mr. Falk-
land, I trust you do not place much reli-
ance upon the friendship of great men ;
that you have not raised your expectations
highly of Mordaunt's bequests to you, for
if you have, Sir—

" If I had, Sir," said Falkland, coolly
interrupting him, " the total absence of

38%

worldly homage to rising greatness, in the
confidential lawyer of Mr. Mordaunt, must
prove conviction to me of how visionary
were these expectations."

" Pray, Mr. Gabble, may I ask where
the wealth of Mr. Mordaunt reverts to,
if such is a fair question ?" demanded an
old bachelor, who lodged in Seaview, and
was the chief gossip of the village; admit-
ted in every family, and paying for his
daily board by the anecdotes he related,
and the secrets he gleaned at one hospita-
ble board to retail at another.

" Why, Mr. Spunger, the question would
be inadmissible, only the property goes to
no individual, being all designed for chari-
ties 5 but what particular ones I don't yet
know, the will not yet being finished."

" Then how the deuce can you vouch for
the disposition of any thing until the deed
is done?,,

Gabble feeling offended at Mr. Spun-
ger's doubting his assertions, now, to prove
he argued from presumptive evidence as
convincing as positive, proceeded to state
how he had been sent for to the Priory,
and the preamble to a will which he had

383

written, as dictated by Mr. Mordaunt,
which preamble run upon every man con-
sidering himself as merely steward to the
property he was entrusted with in this
world, and of which he would be called
upon to give a strict account ; and how,
under that idea, he had endeavoured to
perform his duty whilst he lived, and at
his death, more effectually to serve the
cause of benevolence, he gave and be-
queathed his whole estate, real and per-
sonal, for ever, to " And here/' con-
tinued Mr. Gabble, u in this critical mo-
ment, he was called away to see a sick ter-
rier, and after detaining me nearly an hour,
in expectation of his return, sent me word
at length —

" That he was engaged with an archi-
tect, just arrived from town, relative to
erecting an hospital for the canine race,
so nearly exterminated by the late alarms
created by their maladies; and that I must
attend on the morrow to complete the
business I had in hand for him.,,

" Then, depend upon it,'* exclaimed
Mr. Spunger, " all his satellites will be
disappointed, and an hospital for mad dogs

3'84

is the benevolent purpose lie dedicates his
relinquished stewardship to."

" And perhaps Mr. Falkland may be
appointed head surgeon, apothecary, and
accoucheur to the itfstitutidtf/' said Mr.
Gabble, the apothecary, who was also in
the library.

" Possibly, Sir," returned Falkland, calm-
ly; " and should you be appointed to the
institution too, you will find appropriate
employment for your abilities in malignant
cases:" and, making a careless e?i passant
congS, mounted his horse, which his groom
just arrived with.

"Ha! ha! ha! very fair, doctor! we
must expect the pills to be bitter where
there is no gilding for them," exclaimed
apothecary Gabble, the moment Falkland
was out of hearing ; and the moment the
lawyer beheld him gallop off, he continued
that kind of information which Spunger
sat for hours each day in the library to
glean.

u Ay, Sir, all his sycophantic, speculat-
ing, outwitting plans are frustrated; for I
had it from unquestionable authority that
Mordaimt has quarrelled with this snarl-

385

ing puppy, who stands a good chance of
being the first patient in the hospital for
mad curs, A person, a particular friend
of my brother's and mine, chanced to b&
in the antichamber, heard Mordaunt bid
Falkland get out of the house, and actu-
ally saw him fling an immense folio, which
only for the energy of fury he could not
have upheld, at Falkland's head."

Falkland, in the course of his morning's
round, received many condoling hints upon
the subject of Mr. Mordaunt's capricious
breach with him ; and when, with his
Rosalind and Adelaide, he entered the
hall at Mordaunt Priory, the old butler,
with a rueful countenance, mournfully
exclaimed —

" Oh, Sir! my master has completed his
will to-day, and not even left the most
trifling legacy to one of his faithful old
servants !"

" That I can never believe, Mr. Wright,'*
replied Falkland ; " your master is too be-
nevolent, too just, for such an omission."

<< Ah! Sir, 'tis too, too true! All is left
to the dogs ! He finished the will, un-

vou I. s

386

i known to Mr. Gabble, so ashamed was he
of his injustice to the Christian, mortals ;
and when Mr. Gabble arrived to-day, there
was nothing for him to do but become
one of the witnesses to this cruel will."

As Adelaide had often visited Mordaunt
after her first admission to his presence,
only the introduction of Mrs. Falkland
was necessary; but what effect her appear-
ance or manners had upon the misan-
thrope, no relaxing feature, no tone of
altered language betrayed, yet he evidently
was not comfortable ; and Falkland, believ-
ing it was the innovation of female society
that made liim so, endeavoured to call out
all the pleasing talents of his wife and
ward to dissipate the gloom.

At length, soon after dinner, Adelaide,
attracted to inspect Mordaunt's snuff-box,
from its having a painting on its lid, ex-
claimed, as she viewed it —

"Ob ! Mrs. Falkland, did you ever see
any* thing so like necromancy as this?
This must surely be the identical painting
you lent me this morning to copy, here
most beautifully set.;"

38/

ic What mean you, child ?" demanded
Mr. Mordaunt, in visible emotion. " This
painting was bought by me thirty years
ago at Rome, and was never out of my
possession since, except to have one copy
of it taken."

11 Which very copy, I really believe, is
now actually in my possession," replied
Rosalind.

" Is it a fair question to ask how you
came possessed of it, Mrs. Falkland?"
said Mr. Mordaunt.

" It was given me, Sir, by an aunt of
mine."

" That aunt's name, pray, Madam?"

" Harvey, Sir."

" Harvey I" repeated Mordaunt, te then
it is not the same. The person I gave it
to was once named Danvers, afterwards
Barclay."

" My aunt, Sir," replied Rosalind, cc was
the eldest daughter of Sir Rupert Danvers,
who married a Mr. Barclay, who after-
wards changed his name to Harvey for a
nominal fortune in the West Indies."

V You may well call it a nominal fortune*

%2

S88

Rosalind," said Falkland, smiling, "since,
I believe, the name of Harvey was all he
obtained by his legacy ."

cc All, to my aunt's severe disappoint-
ment; which added not a little to her re-
pentance for turning out of the road to
certain happiness she once was in, and wil-
fully shutting her eyes to jump down the
precipice of ruin with Mr. Barclay."

Mordaunt listened with the most pro-
found attention ; and, after a thoughtful
pause, inquired, " if Mrs. Falkland knew
v/hat certain path to happiness Mrs. Har-
vey had forsaken ?"

" Not very well," said Rosalind, " as it
was a distressing subject to my dear mo-
ther, an obnoxious one to my poor father,
and not a very pleasing one to my aunt;
sq that all my cousins and I could make
out was, that there was some very amiable,
charming man of fortune, whose name we
could never learn, with whom, my aunt
and mother, love played at cross-purposes.
My mother tenderly attached to him, my
aunt to his riches, and he sighing for my
aunt, who finally jilted him ; but not until

389 •

my poor love-lorn mother, cherishing' no
hope, had been prevailed upon to promise
her hand to my father."

" Your mother, Mrs. Falkland ! which
was she, Gertrude or Cicilia Danvers?"

" Neither, Sir. She was Rosalind, the
youngest, and, as she says, the prettiest of
the sisters/*

" She says true," returned Mordaunt,
with quickness; " but she was proud and
scornful as the very d — 1."

" But pride was her only foible," re-
turned Mrs. Falkland, endeavouring to
smile away a rising tear; " and pray for-
give her that, since now it is humbled in
the misery of a prison."

" I'll be cursed if I do!" returned Mor-
daunt with ludicrous asperity; " since
had it not been for the forbidding deform-
ity of its haughty aspect, she would not
have been doomed to sigh in hopelessness
for him who only preferred her sister be-
cause she appeared more amiable. Rosa's
beauty first captivated that man ; but her
pride and scorn unriveted his chains, led
him to transfer his -'affections to her sister,
and to become a wretched man for life.

390

<x In me you behold that wretched, soli-
tary shunner of society your aunt and
mother transformed me into; and had I
known you to be a Danvers, I should not
have torn open my long bleeding wounds
by inviting you hither. I never inquired
who Rosa Danvers married, therefore
hearing the wife of Falkland was a Miss
Aspenfield let me not into the secret; and
though the family stamp your countenance
wore unhinged me at your entrance, I
still suspected not you bore it lineally,

" I fear I speak un courteously to you,
Mrs. Falkland ; biit my provocations have
been severe. When my judgment forced
me, with many a bitter, bitter pang forced
trie, to break the chains which bound me to7
the scornful Rosa, I was again lured to
love by the soft fascinating wiles of encou-
ragement held out to me by her sister,
Helena, to whom I at length, in infatuated
tenderness, gave up my very soul.

" The day, nay the hour, was fixed, Ma-
dam, for our union/* continued the agi-
tated Mordaunt; "the family all attired
in their nuptial pomp, all but Rosa, who
was then in Wales ; &n$ well I now re-

391

member it was the very day after I was
announced to her as the accepted suitor of
her sister that she set out on a visit to an
aunt in Wales.

" Mrs. Falkland, I emerged from my
dressing-room in all the enthusiastic rap-
ture of a man about to be united to the
woman he adored ; when the information,
the direful information, awaited me of He-
lena having eloped in the night with my
Own friend — a man— no, a monster, who
owed his all to me, and whom I had intro-
duced at your grandfather's to undo me;
and from that hour of perfidy my anguish-
ed heart turned to adamant against the
human race, and I abhorred ail who bWe
the form of man, or still more tieacbenms
woman, until Falkland and this c\ Id
brought conviction to my bosom there
yet was one in either sex who was not dia-
bolical.

« Forgive me, Mrs. Falkland," he more
mildly added, endeavouring to tranquillize
his direful agitation : " 1 have been a
savage to you, in breach of the law of
hospitality ; but it was beneath your grand-
father's roof the misery of my life was un-

392

feelingly stamped; and surely I may claim
your pity, if I cannot your forgiveness/'

" I grieve/1 said Falkland, pitying Mor-
daunt from his heart, and sensibly hurt at
his Rosalind's quick feeling being so keen-
ly v/ounded— ." I grieve this introduction
has taken place, as I fear, Sir, you and
Mrs. Falkland can never be cordial friends,
since her family have, alas ! proved the
source of your life's misery, and you
(though unintentionally) destroyed the
happiness of her mother."

" Never, I fear," said Mordaunt ; " for,
in truth, I feel as if I never should look
with cordial kindness upon the daughter
of Rosa Danvers, who first captivated my
heart, and then strove to break it by her
pride and scorn."

V But she loved you all the time, Sir/*
said .Adelaide, in a tone of such affecting
interest, it vibrated on every tender chord
in Mordaunt's sensitive mind.

" Child, who can tell she loved me?"

" Mrs. Falkland said she did, Sir, and
therefore it is true," returned Adelaide:
<c then think of a being you once loved, and
who long loved you, now a sad captive in

393

a foreign land, and then can your heart
tell you it will not look with cordial kind-
ness upon the child who is sorrowing for
her parent's captivity?"

" You seem determined, child/? said
Mordaunt, benignly, " to make me look
with cordial kindness upon the child of
Rosa; but you use no effort to turn that
child to amity with me."

" That is because I know the moment
you forgive her mother her heart and
looks will melt to all that is genial to her-
self, sweet, kind, and conciliating.-"

" Is this the case, Mrs. Falkland?" ask-
ed Mordaunt, with a softened voice.

M Adelaide is always correct in her state-
ments, except in her praise of those she
loves," said Rosalind,

" Then, with my hand on my heart, in
the sincerity of an honest man, I claim
your kind cordiality, since your mother
I do from my soul forgive."

Rosalind's beautiful hand was now prompt-
ly held out to Mordaunt, who sealed a
treaty of amity upon it, and who, imme*
diately after, endeavouring to recover his

. s5

394

composure, and to withdraw his thoughts
from the Dan vers family, said—

" My new friend affirms, • that Ade-
laide is always correct in her statements;'
is it so, Falkland, when she assures me she
is quite well?"

The cheeks of Falkland and his ward
"were now tinted with the brightest glow of
confusion ; and had not Rosalind been so
well acquainted with the cause, her jealous
pangs would have been aroused to agony.

" I trust," answered Falkland, hesitat-
ingly, " that although Adelaide certainly
does not look well, there is no indisposi-
tion lurking about her."

" I don't know that," returned Mor-
daunt, sharply; <(I am neither a doctor
nor a conjurer, but I have for some
time past seen much to alarm me in the
child, and have been thinMng change of
air and scene might benefit the brat; and
as I am old enough to be her grandfather,
and therefore bo scandal, from the ex-
tremes of our age, could ensue, that, with
all due decorum, 1 ©light take her on a
torn with me I am meditating to London

395

and Bath. There will be plenty of room
for her in the coach, as I shall only take
with me in it Diver, Sappho, Diogenes,
Hector, and Flirt.^

Adelaide looked terrorized at the idea
of such an excursion; and Rosalind, with
difficulty, suppressed a laugh.

" But, my dear Sir," said Falkland, with
inimitable gravity, " although you can
manage without other females in your suit,
my young ward would look and feel rather
awkward without a chaperon, or one com-
panion of her own sex, on an excursion
which otherwise I should approve exceed-
ingly for her."

" Why, as to that," said Mordaunt, his
project now quite at fault, " I really do
not know what to say, if such a matter is
absolutely necessary. At Bath I should
be at no loss, having a friend there whose
sister is deaf and dumb, and her I could
tolerate in my family as companion and
decorum's shield for die girl ; but in Lon-
don ! faith I know not what can be done
there, unless the invisible girl would sur>
flee, or that we render chaperons unneces-
sary by converting the brat into one her-

96

self. What say you, you monkey ! Shall
Doctor Woodehouse unite our hands ere
we go, and give you a right to be my com-,
panion in life, and at my death to all my
possessions ?"

Although Adelaide knew Mr. Mordaunt
was now jesting, yet, as it was about her*
self, she. had not courage to answer him
with respondent badinage; she therefore
looked her blushing entreaty for her guar-
dian to reply.

"What !" exclaimed Mordaunt, " I see
you will not have me without a longer
wooing. Well then, since I am foiled in
this project of having you up to London
with me, I must try another. What say
you, Falkland, to making your congS to
the people here, and march up, bag and
baggage, and practise your profession be-
neath my roof, in London, in a house I
have serious thoughts of purchasing in
Grosvenor-square ?"

" What!" said FaJkland, " take up my
shop amid my goods and chattels, and
practise as an apothecary in your noble
mansion in Grosvenor-square !"

" Pshaw ! you mongrel, no I Would

397

you have all the inhabitants rise up in in-
dignant ire against me, and smash your
gallipots about my head for such an in-
sult to theif hitherto uncontaminated
state of residence? No: leave the drugs
behind, and resume your practice as Doc-
tor Falkland in a stately mansion in a
London square. Well, you may grin if
you like; but if there is no other May for
changing the air and scene for the child
it must be adopted, for I cannot have her
longer pale and spiritless, as if she was go-
ing to die before me."

" But by the time you are able to un-
dertake this projected tour, Sir, Adelaide,
I trust, will be blooming and gay again,
requiring no change of air or scene," said
Rosalind.

'$ I am going immediately, Madam."

" Not you, indeed," said Falkland,
seriously : " you shall not escape my
clutches until I am convinced you laugh
my care to scorn."

" I have made my will, you interested
puppy ; and not all this pretended anxiety
shall lure me to alter one item in it."

" And I have formed my will/' returned

398

Falkland, smiling; "and not all these re-
fractory airs or juvenile flights shall lure
me to alter one determination of it. You
shall not go to town in a precarious state
of health, or, at least, not until I have
made more money by you. Why, since
you own I have nothing to expect in your
will, it is my interest to keep you alive*
and make out bills against you as long as
your rent-roll.' '

At length Rosalind and Adelaide left
Mr. Mordaunt and Falkland to a t£te-d-
tite^ when the former led on the latter, by
his questions, to state to him the interest-
ed conduct of the Harveys in hurrying
Rosalind into becoming his wife, and their
subsequent insolence and neglect.

" Ay, ay, "exclaimed Mordaunt," pound-
ing the family pride in a mortar was, to
be sure, an unpardonable transgression!
But this poor Rosa really loved me all the
time she ill-used me, and is now a wretched
captive in a A — lish French prison ! I — I
can't bear' that — cannot suffer it 1 — No : I
must strain every nerve to open her pri-
son ! — I have friends whom I am ashamed
of, for they are staunch supporters of the

399

new French government ; but I think they
can serve me, and get poor Rosa out of pri-
son, and Lord De Morland too. I shall not
forget him in my petition, for I think that
brat frets about him -y for lie is never men-
tioned but the tears spring up to her pretty
eyes, and her guileless heart swells with
the sighs of sorrow."

Falkland now hastened to confess to
Mordaunt the cause of Adelaide's altered
aspect; and, in return, received an em-
phatic reprimand for his severity.

" A pretty savage, truly [** exclaimed
Mordaunt, angrily; " and so, for the
dear child's very first serious offence,
you almost killed her with your severity.
Zounds! if you had though, much as I
pretend to regard you, I would myself
have prosecuted you for her murder. —
'Sdeath ! how provoking I was not born
thirty years later, that I might marry her
instantly, and snatch her out of the way,
meek lamb ! of ever again being thwarted,
or unkindly treated."

" Does matrimony always prove such a
shield ?" asked Falkland, smiling. " But,
seriously, my dear Sir, believe poor Ade-

400

laide has not been the only sorrowing pe-
nitent, for I have had my share of deep
contrition ; nor am I yet even self-for*
given."

" I am glad to hear it — glad to my heart."
" Nor am I quite certain Rosalind has
forgiven me,"

"Humph!" ejaculated Mordaunt: then,;
with sudden vehemence, he exclaimed,"
" A mighty pretty woman that wife of
yours ! indeed, a prodigious lovely crea-<
ture ! and, notwithstanding the proud race
she sprung from, has a sort of good-natur-
ed playfulness about her eyes and smile
that is very prepossessing."

401

CHAPTER XX.

On the subsequent morning; a letter from
Mordaunt was delivered to Falkland,
couched in the following terms : —

cc DEAR LANCET,

" I hate circumlocution — so to the mat-
ter at once. As you would not give me
leave to go to London, I am setting oft*
forthwith, without it, and shall have reach-
ed Canterbury ere you hear of my daring
disobedience : but I could get no sleep all
night for thinking a being who once loved
me was a miserable captive in a foreign
land, so could not delav mv anxious and
strenuous attempts to emancipate her.

" You should not have been so harsh to
that tender lamb you had to cherish as a
child. As soon as I can arrange for the
invisible girl's chaperoning services, so as
to admit of changing the air and scene for
my sweet, drooping lamb, you shall hear
again from

" Yours, sincerely,

" Horatio Mordaunt."

402

Falkland was considerably distressed at
this imprudent expedition of Mordaunt's ;
and, full of alarm for the consequences to
bim, he proposed setting off immediately,
to attend him on his journey to town, and,
when arrived there, to deliver him to the
care of the most eminent physician in Lon-
don ; but Rosalind, fearing that such at-
tention might be ascribed to interested
motives, dissuaded him from it: yet Falk-
land felt restless and unhappy at having
yielded to Rosalind's opinion, until, after a
lapse of a few days, he received the follow-
ing consolation from Mordaunt:— -

" GREAT M. ©.

" I value not your rueful prognostics one
groat ; for here am I on my perch in Lon-
don, a much blither bird than I was when
I last bthe'd your croaking ravenship.

" I ha\ \-- seen my French friends, and
the lette vs I hoped to obtain from them
for Bonaparte's prime counsellor are on
the road to Paris; in which, believe me,
the dear child's uncle was not forgotten ;
and tell your wife I think she has a fair
pretence for rearing hope on her crest.

403

" Apropos, of crests ! I do not like that
d — lish pestilo should remain for yours, as
a substantial prop for the recoiling nose of
that spawn of a Jezebel the Ho-no-ra-b(e
Mrs. Gustavus Saville; so, as I find the
advertised mansion in Grosvenoi -square,
which I am in treaty ft>r, quite large enough
for us all, meaning to keep a snug suite for
myself out of the women's transit; and as
I find, upon inquiry, the most eminent
physicians go out of town for a month or
two in the year to recruit, so you can suiff
the sea air at Seaview, or the land breezes
atMordaunt Priory ; so I would have you
come to town, and resume your long dor-
mant M. D.

il The dear child shall have a nice airy
suite of apartments; and, as she praisedllec-
tor greatly the other day, he can have a neat
crib in her chamber, if she likes his com-
pany. When I talk of her to my compa-
nions, they all wag their tails; and as to
Diver, he invariably barks for joy, and flies
to the door and opens it, as if to let her in.
Come soon to —

" Yours, eternally,

" H. M."

4,04,

" P. S. The girl says your boy never
cries, so I can tolerate him in my house.
She says, too, you are kind to all the dumb
creatures and old domestics who belonged
to Mr. Oldworth. That is right, my good
fellow ! Pursue that plan wherever such en-
cumbrances are bequeathed to you.

" N. B. I wish you and Mrs. Falkland,

and not forgetting the dear lamb you —..

but you are sorry for it, so I shall say no
more about it; but all of you come up in
a day or two, and see if this mansion ^will
suit. I shall find room for you in the ho-
tel with me. Pray bring up Snap for me,
as I fear the poor animal frets at the ab-
sence of his companions. "

Falkland, in compliance with the wish of
Mr. Mordaunt, to whom he felt the most
lively glow of gratitude for his meditated
project, which would restore his Rosalind's
claim to a place amid the first ranks in so*
ciety, instantly set about arranging for a
temporary absence from home ; and as Mrs.
Falkland and Adelaide had been prompt in
their preparations too, they were all so far
in readiuess for an expedition to London,

405

that not one half hour elapsed after an ex-
press arrived to call them to the deathbed
of Mr. Mordaunt ere they were on the
wing for the metropolis.

Mordaunt, led on by the impulse of his
sensibility, delaying not to recover from
the fatigue of his journey to town ere he
commenced his negotiation with some
French emigrant friends, to exercise, for a
large pecuniary recompence, their influ-
ence over the prime favourite of Bona-
parte for the liberation of those he wished
to emancipate from durance vile, was ill
able to sustain and combat with a sudden
chill he received while waiting near the
door of a coffee-house frequented by his
French agents, in the business which had
so imprudently called him to town : — the
gout attacked his stomach, and ere Falk-
land could arrive he breathed his last sigh.

Mr. Mordaunt's London solicitor was
with him the whole of the morning ere he
expired, awaiting one moment's respite
from pain to add a codicil to the will he
had lately made, which he had brought up
to town to place in this confidential law-
yer's hands: and not above an hour ere

406

his mortal race was run could he effect
this anxiously wished for codicil.

According to the directions of Mr. Mor-
daunt, this will was opened the moment
succeeding the arrival of Falkland, who,
to his utter amazement, found himself
named as sole heir and residuary legatee
to the immense property, real and personal,
of the deceased ; except the whole of the
family jewels, with the sum of five thou-
sand pounds sterling, to modernize their
setting, which he bequeathed to Adelaide
Bouverie, to become hers immediately upon
his demise, and to be exempt from the con-
trol of her guardian, and even of her hus-
band, whenever she married.

The will inspected, the solicitor inquired,
" if the young lady present was Miss Ade-
laide Bouverie ?" and, on being answered,
placed in her hand, in compliance with his
instructions, the codicil of Mr. Mordaunt,
so lately completed.

By this codicil was bequeathed to Ade-
laide the whole of Mr. Mordaunt's personal
property, which, beside plate, library, &c.
was included one hundred and ten thou-
sand pounds sterling in the public funds.

40

n

But, in the course of twenty-four hours af-
ter that codicil was delivered to her, if she
found cause to disapprove the aforesaid
bequest of all testator's personal property
to her, the power was hers to compromise
with the residuary legatee for the moiety
of the personal property becoming hers, or
her own hand to destroy that codicil, and
allow the will made on the 7th of Novem-
ber, 1804, to stand in force.

The amazed Adelaide, powerfully agi-
tated and affected, read the codicil to the
end, and then requested the lawyer to read
it aloud for Mr. Falkland. The testator's
meaning was vibrating through every di-
lating pulse of her throbbing heart, and,
ere Falkland was aware of her intention,
the paper was snatched from the solicitor's
hand, and flaming in record of Adelaide's
gratitude on the fire, herself at her guardi-
an's feet, bent there in trembling homage
for all she felt she owed him.

" Adelaide !" exclaimed Falkland, flying
to snatch the paper from the rapidly con-
suming flames — " Oh ! Adelaide, impetu-
ous girl ! what have you done ?"

" Consecrated a holy pile of gratitude's

408

ascending incense to the sacred memory of
Mr. Mordaunt," she replied. " Oh ! Sir,
the last words he ever uttered to me were- —
c Adelaide, poor, drooping lamb! what
would make you happy ?'

"You, Sir, at that moment looked such
eloquent sorrow, that he could call me
c drooping lamb/ that — that I answered,
Sir, and indeed it came from my heart — ■
* Ever to have it in my power to evincemy
gratitude to Mr. Falkland, Sir.'

" Mr. Mordaunt quite well remembered
what would make me happy ; and it would
have made me happy had Mr. Mordaunt
been living, to behold how glad I am to
evince my gratitude to you :" and Adelaide,
now powerfully affected by her gratitude to
the friend who was lost, and the one who
was spared to her, her excess of tears seem-
ed to portray nothing of that happiness she
talked of feeling.

Falkland, assailed by all the emotions of
trembling sensibility at such conduct in
the adored child of his own rearing, yet
was left no power to define one of them, so
terrorized he felt in the idea that Adelaide
had unadvisedly injured herself; had trans-

409

gressed the law, by destroying the codicil
during her minority ; for her impetuous
feelings had not suffered him to hear it to
the end.

" Oh ! Adelaide, noble, grateful child!"
he said, " you had no right, minor as you
are, to do this.',

€< The testator, Sir, made the young lady
competent to the act, and, with an exulting
smile at anticipating human virtue, prophe-
sied she would do as she has done," said
the lawyer, looking with venerating ho-
mage upon the weeping, trembling Ade-
laide, as a being not belonging to this world
of interest.

ff But I hope," he added, as he gazed,
u the young lady has sufficient fortune
never to repent this total sacrifice ?"

" Yes, thank you, Sir, I have a very large
fortune," exclaimed Adelaide eagerly, "so
that it was no sacrifice whatever in me ; but
yet I found very great joy in the power of
doing it."

il Yes, Adelaide," said Falkland, as he,
tremulously grasped her hand in all the
fervor of his grateful and approving feel-
ings, " you have a handsome fortune; yet

VOL. I. t

410

the sacrifice was great; but it shall not be
so total as you have made it,"

" Sir/' returned Adelaide, with solemn
impressiveness, u understand the wishes*
the intentions of Mr. Mordaunt better.
His riches he meant for you. The treasure
his benevolence left for me was to make
me happy in the power to prove I was a
grateful eleve your tender kindness reared. "

u Oh ! Rosalind, my wife!" exclaimed
the agitated Falkland, i( teach me, instruct
me in what to say, to express as I ought
ray sentiments of the conduct of this be-
loved, exalted child !"

The conduct of Adelaide had spontane-
ously awakened in the heart of Rosalind
the most lively emotions of gratitude, of
admiration, of every new incentive to love
her with tenderness, augmented by her me-
rit; but the baleful germ of jealousy which
had taken so deep a root in her breast sent
forth its innoxious influence as spontane-
ously, in the direful alarm that such ex-
alted generosity, so positive in proof of
excellence of heart, and of the estima-
tion she regarded her guardian with, must
awaken sensations in his mind of that dan-

411

gerous tendency which Helena had antici-
pated; and in all the misery this alarm in-
spired she sat, until her better thoughts,
panting to lead her to give her heart's ap-
plause to the being she in defiance of her
bosom's tormenter could not but love,
were called into prompt action by this
appeal of Falkland's to aid him ; when,
instantly bursting into tears of mingled
penitence and sensibility, she caught Ade-
laide in her arms, and wept upon her bo-
som her now awakened, animated sense of
the mental excellence evinced by the child
of her earliest friend.

Scarcely had the solicitor of Mr. Mor-
daunt taken his leave, when Falkland was
called from the indulgence of his unfeign-
ed sorrow for the loss of a friend (for whom
the inspirations of powerful gratitude keen-
ly augmented the pangs of grief) to receive
a gentleman, an inmate of the same hotel,
who requested an interview with him upon
important business.

This gentleman proved to be a Kentish
neighbour, who had been arrested in France
the preceding year, and had just effected
his liberation from an unjust detention

t2

412

there ; and the business he had to comma-
nicate was the horrid fact of General As-
penfleld having been massacred in his pri-
son, for some unguarded language he had
held.

This would have been a direful blow for
the fond heart of Falkland to be doomed
to convey, at any period, to his Rosalind,
but in this moment of newly awakened
distress and varied agitation it almost sub-
dued him ; and had it not been for the aid
of the affectionate Adelaide he never could
have gone through the sad task of impart-
ing to his wife, though suppressing its at-
tendant horrors, the death of her father;
or have supported himself and her through
a day of accumulated distress : but to them
both Adelaide was the gentle, tender, kind
consoler; suppressing her own grateful re-
grets for Mr. Mordaunt, her own newly
awakened, direful alarms for the safety of
her beloved uncle, in her heart-devoted at-
tentions to them.

As it was necessary for Falkland to re-
main some days in town to administer to
Mr. Mordaunt's will, yet wishing to pay
every respect to the remains of his late

413

friend, and, as he emphatically styled and
sincerely considered him — " his benefac-
tor!" he would not suffer them to proceed
to their Ion"; home without his attendance;
and as Rosalind would not leave him on
his melancholy duty alone in town, she
and Adelaide continued with him, and did
not return to Seaview until the body of
their deceased friend commenced its way
to Mordaunt Priory, where Falkland ar-
ranged it should lie in state some days, as
such had been the family custom.

Lord Beechbrook, through attention to
his highly estimated friend Falkland, joined
with his tenantry those of Mr. Mordaunt's
to meet the mourning procession ; several
other gentlemen, from respect to Falkland,
did the same; so that immense was the
cavalcade which attended the corse on its
last stage to the priory, where the domes-
tics, with rueful countenances, bid welcome
to their late master's heir, who soon lulled
each anxious fear and discontent to rest,
by promising a year's wages to all, and an
adequate provision for life to those whose
faithful service laid claim to independence;
and cleared the fame of their late master

414

by reading the will to them, in which, suc-
ceeding the preamble already cited by Mr.
Lawyer Gabble, Mr. Mordaunt's own hand
added — after Mr. Gabble had written * I
give and bequeath all my estates, real and
personal, for ever —

c< — — to Augustus Henry Falkland, M.D.
of the parish of Seaview, in the county of
Kent; as in him my tenants will find a
kinder landlord than I have been, the poor
my almoner, my animals a tender master,
and my domestics, particularly my female
ones, an executor who will know better
how to reward them for me than I could
do myself."

The property thus unexpectedly be-
queathed to Falkland amounted, in land-
ed, to four thousand per annum, that in
personal as already stated; whilst Ade-
laide's bequest of jewels, beside her five
thousand pounds, was valued by the first
lapidists in town as rather exceeding twen-
ty thousand pounds.

After the last melancholy obsequies had
been paid to the remains of Mr. Mordaunt
and that Falkland looked over the noble
mansion that was to be henceforth his

4i5

own, he found it so completely out of re-
pair, that he determined not to make it his
dwelling until it was thoroughly refitted
into a comfortable abode ; and still, until
the priory was ready for his reception, to
continue in the house of Mr. Oldworth,
which, immediately upon his coming into
possession of Mr. Mordaunt's fortune, he
made over to Mrs. Crow, to become her
property the moment he should quit it;
but totally exempt from the power of her
worthless husband, who, by this time, had
used her so cruelly as to compel her to a
separation.

And whilst he remained in the bouse of
Mr. Oldworth, Falkland determined to con-
tinue his practice as an apothecary gratis,
both through benevolence to the poor, and
out of gratitude to the memory of Mr.
Oldworth, who had regarded his patients
as his children; and Falkland would not,
therefore, abandon them without a com-
petent successor, whom he trusted he had
found in a Mr. Duncan, who had supplied
the place of Mr. Crows and who, with one
year more instruction from him, he hoped

416

would prove equal to the important task i,
more particularly as he should himself be
near, to advise him in all intricate or dan-
gerous cases*

417

CHAPTER XXI.

Upon Adelaide's return from her mournful
visit to the metropolis, a most sorrowful
vexation awaited her, in the intelligence
of Montagu Bouverie having been at Sea-
view during her absence, to bid adieu to
her and his other friends ere he joined his
new regiment at Malta ; and, pressed iW
time, he could not delay for the arrival of
Falkland from town.

Shortly after Bouverie came of age he
lodged money for a troop, preferring the
cavalry service to the infantry; and not
until this period had his wish been accom-
plished. . The business attendant upon this
exchange had called him from Ireland to
London, from whence he hurried, all impa-
tience, to see his friends at Seaview ; where
he arrived on the very day the most attrac-
tive of whom had set out for London.

Mellifont, too, was gone on a tour with
Doctor Birch, and Bouverie had not a day
to spare to go in pursuit of the tourists, or
to return to London.

t5

418

From Mrs. Birch and daughters he receiv-
ed the greasest civility during his few hours
stay at Seaview; but from them he could ob-
tain no answers to his anxious questions re-
lative to Adelaide to satisfy him. They ail
had learned to hate her> because Mrs. Falk-
land's line of acquaintance soaring much
higher than Miss Oldworth's had done,
Adelaide was, in consequence, unavoidably
drawn out of any degree of intimacy with
them : a matter which they failed not to
attribute to her pride, and which, with her
transcendent beauty, her superior endow-
ments, and fortune, rendered her an object
of the Misses' envy ; who failed not to
descant to Bouverie upon her growth in
hauteur under Mrs. Falkland's tuition, her
pedantry, her decrease of beauty, and,
above all, her turn for methodism!

To all that Miss Eliza (now sprouted
into a young woman of sixteen, in search
of a great match) asserted relative to Miss
Bouverie's defects either her mother of
one of her sisters proved a ready witness,
adding, " that of late she was grown so
pale, and thin, and mopish, and melan-
choly, that, for their parts, they should

419

have believed Mrs. Crow's positive asser-
tion of her having fallen in love with her
guardian, had not a man of unblemish-
ed veracity, a Mr. Spunger, seen a young
person in disguise, so exactly resembhng
Miss Bouverie's lank, gawky figure, he
could not be mistaken, go in and out of
the methodist meeting frequently lately."
Bouverie was sensibly hurt at bearing
all this, in apprehension that any one af-
firmation might have a particle of truth for
its foundation ; although he doubted not
the probability that every thing they ut-
tered was the fabrication of pique and envy.
But at length other testimony led him,
in dire dismay, almost to credit some
very unpleasant change having taken place
in the hitherto fascinating Adelaide; for
Walton, the constant visitor of the Miss
Birch's in their father's absence from home,
or during his engagements in school, ap-
peared, to make a morning visitation ; and
being applied to for his opinion of Miss
Bouverie, he jeermgly styled her *'* pat-
tern miss! who had been transcendently
beautiful, but had faded prematurely, and
was now become, from the still, ungracr

420

ousness of her manners, and the formality
of her aspect, neither more nor less than
the singular phenomenon of an old maid
in her teens "

Now there happened to be scarcely any
class of females that Bouverie had a greater
antipathy to than a formal girl, a prema-
ture old maid, except a pattern miss! and
although he knew, from Walton's villany
to poor Lucy, that he was a miscreant who
deserved no place in moral society, yet,
from these very propensities he condemned
him for, believing him a competent judge
of female external graces and fascinations,
he felt inclined to credit his assertions re-
lative to the alterations in Adelaide's at-
tractions.

Nor once did Bouverie suspect Walton
of the malicious propensities which actu-
ated the Miss Birch's ; not knowing that
the budding beauty of this rare blossom of
perfection, with her large fortune, had long^
been the fondly coveted object of this in-
terested libertine's pursuit: but, foiled in
every effort he had made to obtain an in-
troduction at her guardian's, or by clandes-
tine means to commence an acquaintance.

421

with the recoiling Adelaide herself, his vin-
dictive resentment was awakened to the
highest altitude against her; and promptly
fearing a dangerous rival in this transcend*
ently handsome young man, he was led to
all the plausible malice he uttered; and
Bouverie, against his better judgment,
against his struggling, fond partiality for
Adelaide, departed from Seaview the fol-
lowing morning at early dawn, infected by
no small portion of the subtil poison of
Walton's spleen; its baneful influence im-
perceptibly weakening the fascinating spells
by which, for nearly two years, he had been
attracted to Adelaide.

The year had nearly elapsed since the
death of Mr. Mordaunt, which was to
close Falkland's career of eminent prac-
tice, during which his Rosalind had pre-
sented him with another lovety boy, and
letters had arrived from Bouverie, announc-
ing his safe arrival at Malta, after " the most
delightful voyage, zvith the most fascinating
fellow passengers that smiling fate could bless
a, favoured mortal with;" when one clay,
most unexpected by her daughter, Mrs.
Aspenfield arrived from Fiance, liberated

422

at length by the efforts of Mr. Mordaunt's
mercenary agents.

Above two years of constant humilia-
tion, and every privation of luxury, at-
tendants, and respect? had lowered the
once towering pride of Mrs. Aspenfield so
completely, that with all the tenderness of
a mother glowing in' her bosom she rushed
to her affectionate child's fond embrace,
though still believing that child degraded
as the wife of a country apothecary ; not
knowing, until she heard it from Rosalind
herself, of the immense acquisition of riches
her husband had obtained by his humanity;
and that even his profession of a physician
he, at her request, was about to relinquish,
except where the benevolence of his nature
should lead him into its practice.

But although the most perfect and hap-
py reconciliation took place between the
Falklands and Mrs. Aspenfield, she would
not accept the cordial invitation of Falk-
land to reside with her daughter entirely -f
but, fascinated by her son-in-law's present
residence, she determined to take up her
abode there, to be near her child, and soon
obtained a lease on terms most advantage-

453 v

ous to Mrs. Crow; as her power for grati-
fying her wishes was ample, General As-
penfleld having, upon the marriage of his
daughter, bequeathed all he possessed to
his wife, who now most generously pre-
sented a handsome portion to her infant
grandson, whom she requested to have
named Danvers ; yet still reserved to her-
self an income adequate to an establish-
ment suited to her rank in life.

In about a month after the arrival of
Mrs. Aspen field from France, as the family
at Falkland's were assembling round the
breakfast table, Dennis presented a note
to Adelaide, which, he said, had just been
delivered to him by the porter belonging'
to the New Inn ; when Adelaide, wonder-
ing what correspondent could have em-
ployed such a messenger, opened an almost
illegibly written billet, and with trembling
agitation read — ■

ce Oh, my Adelaide ! my cousin ! my
only friend ! To escape infamy, I have fled
from my mother to you ; and if you do
not shelter me, I am undone.

M I am now at the New Inn, disguised

424

in the clothes of one of the housemaids ;
and, with only a few shillings in the world,
was forced, alone and unfriended, to come
on the roof of a night coach to Seaview.

? Oh, Adelaide 1 will you not come to,
will you not shelter, your unfortunate

" Ambrosia?"

Adelaide, in terrorized emotion, gave
the note to her guardian, who, with all the
prompt benevolence of his nature, instantly
proceeded to the New Inn, to convey Lady
Ambrosia to an asylum in his house, where
he judged it prudent to have the first in-
terview of the cousins take place, to avoid
any unpleasant discovery or animadversion
upon the young stranger at a public inn.

Falkland found Lady Ambrosia, as he
expected, in extreme agitation, awakened
by the step she had taken, by the terror
she had experienced in her unprotected
nocturnal journey, and by trembling anxi-
ety relative to her reception at Seaview.

But soon Falkland lulled every appre-
hension relative to that reception; and as
it was no uncommon event to see the
meanest even of the human species walk-

42.5

ing through the village with Doctor Falk-
land, to obtain at his house relief for their
ills, the homely attire of his present com-
panion called forth no other remark from
the observers but a thought or exclamation
of regret that the poor would so soon be
deprived of such a ready friend.

The pitying kindness of Adelaide's affec-
tionate heart led her to give her cousin a
reception tender and cordial, beyond all
that Lady Ambrosia's most sanguine ex-
pectations could have formed ; but not
until after those refreshments of breakfast
and repose, which Falkland deemed essen-
tial for the fatigued and agitated girl,
would he permit her entering into any de-
tail relative to the step she had thus clan-
destinely taken.

When at length Lady Ambrosia arose
from a short repose, and was attired in
some of Adelaide's clothes, which she se-
lected from the most prized of her ward-
robe for the poor fugitive, her ladyship
informed the horrorized Adelaide —

" That although the undisguised love
of Lady Seraphina and Mr. Daniel Black-

426

thorn was no secret in the family, yet he*
mother, from some extraordinary infatua-
tion, never seemed to observe it; and al-
though from almost the commencement of
his vile and more veiled designs upon her
Lady Leyburn had been made acquainted
with them, she attempted not to crush
them ; and, therefore, emboldened by such
implied encouragement from the being who
ought to have proved the vigilant protector
of her child, he had proceeded to form such
a diabolical plot against her innocence,
under the auspices of her vile French go-
verness, that only by flight could she es-
cape destruction ; since, from her mother's
strange disbelief of the discovery she had
made, >he could depend upon no deliver^
ance from her; and, fortunately, being in
town when this direful project was revealed
to her, she was enabled, by means of one
of the housemaids, to effect her escape.

(l That her first determination had been
to fly to Lord Aberavon for protection,
who, as her adoring lover, would, she well
knew, be enraptured at a trip to Gretna
Green; but, unluckily, his lordship was not

427

in town, and therefore her second resolu-
tion was to seek an asylum from her clear
Adelaide."

This detail, communicated by Adelaide
to Rosalind, was soon imparted to Falkland,
who felt firm conviction that there existed
no safety for Lady Ambrosia beneath the
roof of such a mother, and that she must
hasten to petition the Lord Chancellor for
another guardian ; but Falkland, not wish-
ing to be himself the open champion of
this insulated minor, lest his interference
should awaken more of Lady Leyburn's
enmity against his beloved ward, proceed-
ed without delay to disclose the distress-
ing situation of Lady Ambrosia to Lord
Beechbrook, who was related to the Ley-
burn family.

Lord Beechbrook's interest for his young
relative being powerfully awakened, he
spontaneously undertook her cause, and
the following day proceeded with her up
to town ; and, ere her mother had disco-
vered the asvlum she had flown to, the
Lord Chancellor delegated the future right
of protecting her to Lord Beechbrook.

Lady Ley burn, whom thev demons of

4%8

avarice had yielded up to the dominion of
the Blackthorns, was yet not so completely
abandoned as not to rejoice in secret at the
step her child had taken, and at the safe
and honourable protection she had obtain-
ed ; while to her vile confederates she af-
fected all that indignation and chagrin they
expected her to feel, and pursued every step
they advised to regain her guardianship;
but all she obtained by this measure was a
most severe reprimand for her unmaternal
conduct.

By the arrangement of younger children's
portions, in the marriage settlement upon
them, the Ladies Leyburn's fortunes bore
no interest during their minority; and
Lady Ambrosia, before indebted to her
mother for support, was now thrown upon
the bounty of friends; and, fortunately for
her, Lord Beechbrook was too liberal to
shrink from yielding her an asylum be-
neath his roof because there was no remu-
neration for him: while the generous Ade-
laide, in ardent affection for a being who
had flown to her protection in the moment
of distress, presented her cousin with an
elegant wardrobe, and constituted herself

429

her ladyship's banker, on whom she had
unlimited credit.

Lady Ambrosia, at length finally esta-
blished under the protection of Lord and
Lady Beechbrook, often became a visitor
at Falkland's for weeks together, both at
Seaview and after his removal to Mordaunt
Priory, where, as well as at Beechbrook,
she had unceasing opportunities for im-
provement; and as Adelaide was indefa-
tigable in stealing, by imperceptible de-
vices, every species of essential knowledge
into her cousin's mind, she at length grew
into something approaching to a rational
being; and as Lord Aberavon appeared
not to renew that homage he had paid her
while quartered in Berkshire, she began to
believe his love was not serious, and gra-
dually to find the impression fading which
he had made upon her fancy.

END OF VOL. I.

T. DAVISON, Lombard-street, v
Whitefriars, London.

' I